A robot is learning to cook and clean in an Ikea kitchen

Dieter Fox thinks cobots, a portmanteau for "collaborative robots," will be a fixture of our future. These bots will operate alongside people, acting as our coworkers, companions, and caretakers. Fox also thinks he knows how to ensure the company he works for, NVIDIA, is the one leading this new era in robotics -- and it all starts with an Ikea kitchen. In November, NVIDIA opened a new AI Robotics Research Lab in Seattle and appointed Fox as its head. The lab already has about a dozen projects in the works, but the main one focuses on teaching a robotic arm to navigate an Ikea kitchen.