Researchers at the Intelligent Systems and Robotics Institute (ISIR, a joint UPMC/CNRS structure) and colleagues from the University of Lorraine* are the cover story in Nature. Their work, published in the May 27, 2015 issue, show how robots can automatically adapt in less than two minutes when they have been damaged.
Robots developed at ISIR are like living creatures that adapt to injury by finding the least painful way of moving. Indeed, they are able to determine the different movement possibilities available to them to fulfill their task by associating them with a new intelligent learning algorithm (Intelligent Trial and Error) and quickly discover the most suitable behavior to compensate for the detected failure.
Because of these new capabilities, robots can more easily leave the lab and help our society in many situations, such as searching for survivors in disasters or monitoring forest fires, knowing that they can adapt to complete their mission even if they are damaged.
* The Lorraine Laboratory for Computer Science Research and Applications (CNRS/INRIA/University of Lorraine)
