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OpenAI today updated Gym – its system for training intelligent software – so that developers can teach physical robots to hold pens, pick up and move objects, and so on. Gym was launched in 2016, and is a toolkit for teaching programs new tricks, such as playing Atari games and balancing poles, via reinforcement learning (RL). Now, OpenAI has added a bunch of simulated environments designed to train physical robots how to move and interact with things around them albeit in a virtual world. For example, the simulated environments can be used to teach robotic fingers to play an instrument, or pick and lift an object from the table. This is useful for folks interested in rapidly training intelligent robots over thousands of exercises, without having to rig up a relatively slow-moving physical bot, or before they have a chance to get hold of the hardware.