Robots get closer to human-like dexterity

It might not look that special, but the robot above is, according to a new measure, the most dexterous one ever created. Among other tricks, it could sort through your junk drawer with unrivaled speed and skill. The key to its dexterity is not in its mechanical grippers but in its brain. The robot uses software called Dex-Net to determine how to pick up even odd-looking objects with incredible efficiency. The new robot was built by Ken Goldberg, a professor at UC Berkeley, and one of his graduate students, Jeff Mahler. Goldberg will demonstrate the latest version of it at EmTech Digital, an event in San Francisco organized by MIT Technology Review and dedicated to artificial intelligence.