Throw away your Allen wrenches and delete the TaskRabbit app, because the only person who will be building your Ikea furniture in the future isn’t a person at all. A team from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University has programmed a robot that put together most of Ikea’s $25 solid-pine Stefan chair on its own. (And, really, who among us hasn’t gotten through building most of a piece of Ikea furniture and given up?) The researchers explained their work in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics.
The researchers decided to teach the robot to build Ikea furniture, not just because it’s a task that pretty much everyone hates doing, but because it requires a lot of distinct skills, the New York Times reports. Things like planning a motion, using a tool, and interacting with the environment.
While this achievement may not be a sign that the robot apocalypse is nigh, it at least suggests that robots are ready to outfit their first off-campus apartment.
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