Swedish and Dutch engineers, with the help of ChatGPT, designed a tomato-picking robot.
This human-IA partnership was born with the idea of testing whether ChatGPT has the ability to perform tasks other than writing poems, books, or product reviews. The team wanted the chatbot to help them design a truly useful robot.
This platform helped them to design the robot and to realize the project, mainly in other areas related to the project. For example, it told them which crop would be the most economically worthwhile to automate. It also advised them to make the clamp out of silicone to avoid crushing the tomatoes and to implement a Dynamixel motor to better handle the robot.
The result of the project was a robotic arm that actually has the ability to pick tomatoes in a greenhouse.
How was the design process of the picking robot?
In other scenarios, it is usually the chatbot that provides the information, and the humans follow the instructions to the letter. However, in this project, the research had a hybrid approach. ChatGPT acted as researcher and engineer, while the human researchers acted as project managers. They reserved the right to specify the objectives of each project factor.
According to the team, this collaborative design process is positive and enriching. However, they commented that “we found that our role as engineers has shifted to performing more technical tasks.”
The team plans to use and improve the tomato-picking robot in their robotics research, always continuing to be supported by the chatbot. With a view to interacting with other artificial intelligence platforms to design new robots.
Specifically, they seek autonomy for AI programs to design their own bodies. That is, making it possible for an AI tool to decide what a robotic body needs and design the one that best suits its goals.
Furthermore, the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (International Iberoamerican University) (UNIB) offers the Master in Strategic Management with a Specialty in Information Technology.
Source: ChatGPT designs a tomato-picking robot that really works
