How to Get a Robot to (One Day) Do Your Chores

Perhaps the greatest outrage in modern robotics is the continued non-existence of the robot housekeeper. Is it really so much to ask for a robot that sweeps and mops and brings you pills on platters, like Rosie from The Jetsons? Actually, it kind of is a lot to ask: A robot that can do even the simplest of chores (save for vacuuming), like setting a table, is a huge challenge because such tasks require both dexterity and planning. But the scientists at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory are working toward a world where robots make our coffee and set our tables. And that research is happening inside a simulation. Because if we want the machines to run our homes instead of leveling them, we have to train them up right.