Agnes Guillot dreams of one day seeing a giant 50-centimetre (20-inch) -long white rat called Psikharpax scuttling fearlessly around her lab. If so, it will be time to scream... but out of joy, rather than fear, for it could be a turning point in the history of robotics. Psikharpax -- named after a cunning king of the rats, according to a tale attributed to Homer -- is the brainchild of European researchers who believe it may push back a frontier in artificial intelligence. Scientists have strived for decades to make a robot that can do some more than make repetitive, programmed gestures. These are fine for making cars or amusing small children, but are of little help in the real world. One of the biggest obstacles is learning ability. Without the smarts to figure out dangers and opportunities, a robot is helpless without human intervention. "The autonomy of robots today is similar to that of an insect," snorts Guillot, a researcher at France's Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), one of the "Psikharpax" team.
If so, it will be time to scream... but out of joy, rather than fear, for it could be a turning point in the history of robotics.
Psikharpax -- named after a cunning king of the rats, according to a tale attributed to Homer -- is the brainchild of European researchers who believe it may push back a frontier in artificial intelligence.
Scientists have strived for decades to make a robot that can do some more than make repetitive, programmed gestures. These are fine for making cars or amusing small children, but are of little help in the real world.
One of the biggest obstacles is learning ability. Without the smarts to figure out dangers and opportunities, a robot is helpless without human intervention.
"The autonomy of robots today is similar to that of an insect," snorts Guillot, a researcher at France's Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), one of the "Psikharpax" team.
