OpenAI unveils 'state-of-the-art' system that gives robots human-like dexterity

A new system has vastly improved robots' abilities to grip, slide and manipulate objects with almost the same ease as a human hand. OpenAI, a robotics research group that's backed by tech titans including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, trained the robot hand to be able to manipulate objects using a sophisticated system called Dactyl. Researchers let a computer simulation of a robot hand learn new movements via trial and error, which served as the dataset for the actual robot hand - meaning it required zero human intervention. Researchers at OpenAI first trained a virtual hand, powered by a neural network, to learn how to manipulate a cube using various grasps. Via simulations, the virtual hand could try out thousands of different poses in just a few seconds.