AI experts establish the "North Star" for the domestic robotics field

Robots that do everything from helping people get dressed in the morning to washing (and putting away) the dishes have been a dream for as long people have uttered the words "artificial intelligence." But, in a field where the state of the art currently rests far short of that level of sophistication, a fundamental challenge has emerged: Namely, what will "success" even look like, should the day come when robots are able to perform these key tasks to human standards. To do these mundane but surprisingly complex tasks, a robot must be able to perceive, reason, and operate with full awareness of its own physical dimension and capabilities, but also of the world and objects around it. In robotics, this combination of situational and physical awareness and capability is known as embodied AI. Now, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Stanford University has released the Benchmark for Everyday Household Activities in Virtual, Interactive, and Ecological Environments (BEHAVIOR).