Robot quickly teaches itself to walk using reinforcement learning

A team of researchers from the University of Southern California's Valero Lab built a relatively simple robotic limb that accomplished something simply amazing: The 3-tendon, 2-joint robotic leg taught itself how to move. The team was led by Professor Francisco Valero-Cuevas and doctoral student Ali Marjaninejad. Their research was featured on the cover of the March issue of Nature Machine Intelligence. The robotic limb is not programmed for a specific task. It learns autonomously first by modeling its own dynamic properties and then using a form of artificial intelligence (AI) known as reinforcement learning. Instead of weeks upon weeks of coding, the robotic leg is able to teach itself to move in just minutes.