[HN Gopher] Engineering household robots to have a little common...
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       Engineering household robots to have a little common sense
        
       Author : CharlesW
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2024-03-27 18:08 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (news.mit.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (news.mit.edu)
        
       | barelyauser wrote:
       | If they think this plan of "connecting" word to actions is
       | promising then they should ask it to tie a shoelace based on
       | "natural language" description. I'm shocked. I really did not
       | expect that MIT would foster such naivety. They completely
       | disregard the fact that natural language is a very crude
       | description of physical actions. Perhaps next they will include
       | in the instructions numerical values, and rediscover CNC.
        
         | tithe wrote:
         | Indeed, I wonder if natural language is the right interface to
         | this problem.
         | 
         | Reading earlier mathematical texts (eg, Euclid's Elements) and
         | their "natural language" proofs reminds me that a picture is
         | truly worth a thousand words!
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | It seems more like they used a classifier to evaluate the
       | situation and decide what state the system should be in. Not sure
       | that the LLM contributed that much. LLMs are mediocre planners at
       | this point.
        
         | hlfshell wrote:
         | Yes and no. LLMs are definitely struggling with long horizon
         | planning in complex situations, and can
         | hallucinate/misunderstand environmental states such that they
         | can recommend nonsensical or impossible steps. _But_ we are
         | starting to see more research that  "grounds" LLM answers in a
         | set state. Where they shine in the planning stage is they
         | provide a sense of contextual heuristics we didn't have
         | available before without a lot of expert domain programming.
         | 
         | LLMS in their current state are certainly not the answer, but
         | point to some exciting possibilities that we couldn't do before
         | because of sheer complexity.
        
       | gleenn wrote:
       | You could call that robot's mode mom mode because it looks like
       | trying to feed a baby without having food go everywhere.
        
       | jonathankoren wrote:
       | I just wish my "smart" Roomba did a better job at mapping the
       | house, and wouldn't constantly forget its map.
        
         | rightbyte wrote:
         | I gave up on my Electrolux Ipure 9 since I spent more time
         | babysitting it than it would take to use a normal vacuum. The
         | dumb ones that just bounced and loled around worked better in
         | practice since they eventually cleaned everywhere, like lawn
         | movers, and didn't give up randomly becouse they were lost.
         | 
         | Jeez I am bitter I bought that one. It is up there with my HTC
         | Vive of worst expensive tech gadgets.
        
           | PicassoCTs wrote:
           | At least you didn't splurge and bought two for the family at
           | christmas.
        
         | thesis wrote:
         | I like my Roborock. YMMV though.
        
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