The Future of Physical Intelligence: AI and Robots in the Real World

AI is transforming the digital world, but we live in a material world. We need to move things, make things, and maintain things. The next step is "Physical Intelligence" which uses advances in robots and sensors to extend AI into the physical world. Physical Intelligence can increase productivity in almost every industry, from agriculture to driving to logistics to healthcare. I’ll use images and video to illustrate recent advances where robots learn to grasp unfamiliar objects, untangle cables, tend polyculture gardens, and manipulate surgical needles. Rather than replacing workers or causing destruction, AI and robots are much more likely to enhance human productivity, collaboration, and creativity in the years to come.

Prof. Ken Goldberg is President of the Robot Learning Foundation and Chair of the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab Steering Committee. He is co-founder of Ambi Robotics and Jacobi Robotics and William S. Floyd Distinguished Chair of Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he leads research in robotics and automation: grasping, manipulation, and learning for applications in industry, homes, agriculture, and robot-assisted surgery.