Why Scientists Love Making Robots Build Ikea Furniture

The frustration and anguish of trying and failing to piece together Ikea furniture may seem like an exercise in humiliation for you, but know this: The particleboard nightmare may one day lead to robots that aren't so stupid. In recent years, roboticists have been finding that building Ikea furniture is actually a great way to teach robots how to handle the chaos of the real world. One group of researchers coded a simulator in which virtual robot arms used trial and error to put chairs together. Others managed to get a different set of robot arms to construct Ikea chairs in the real world, though it took them 20 minutes. And now, a helpful robot can assist a human in assembling an Ikea bookcase by predicting what part they'll want next and handing it over.