Edinburgh students developed AI coffee-brewing robot arm

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have created an AI-powered robotic arm that can serve coffee and perform other tasks. The project was led by a team of robotics experts, who published their findings in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence on Wednesday. The robot arm, named Kinova Gen3, has seven movable joints and uses advanced motor skills combined with AI technology, specifically GPT-4. This allows the robot to adapt to different environments and interact with objects in real-time, especially in a kitchen setting. In a test, Kinova was given verbal instructions to make coffee and decorate a plate with an animal drawing. It successfully opened cabinets to find a mug, scooped coffee, poured hot water, and even drew on a plate using a pen. The robot prioritized tasks, handling unexpected events, like being bumped into, demonstrating its ability for abstract reasoning. Ruaridh Mon-Williams, a PhD student leading the study, emphasized the importance of integrating AI and robotics. He believes this technology will lead to more robots with advanced intelligence becoming common in our daily lives. This may mean that in the future, your coffee could be made by a robot at coffee shops.