February 10, 2011 weblog
Thanks to RoboEarth the bots can learn on their own
(PhysOrg.com) -- We tend to assume that robots need human input in order to understand the world around them. In the near future humans may not even be a part of the robotic-learning equation. Soon, robots will be able to search the web all on their own. Not from the web as we know it, but from a different web made exclusively for the robots.
That web will be called the RoboEarth.
RoboEarth will be a Wiki-style site designed specifically for robots. The site will work something like this. When a robot completes a task it will be able to upload data related to the task. This data will be available for other robots who require information on the task. A simple download will allow for robots to learn from each other, taking the humans out of the equation.
Data sharing will be all that the RoboEarth does. Much like the web of the early days, it will be purely a data sharing tool. Do not expect to see robot-based auction sites or dating sites in the near future. Then again the robots may not miss those features.
The RoboEarth project is the brainchild of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The RoboEarth system will rely on having a certain amount of standardization between the robots who share the data. Otherwise, they will not be able to share the data universally. Without that standardization, the sharing of data will be very limited.
Since this project is estimated to be completed in about four years there will be some time for robots to get with the program.
© 2010 PhysOrg.com