Building things with robots is a nice idea, especially if robots are doing what they're best at: predictable, repetitive tasks like you get with bricklaying. When humans build structures, however, we can be a bit more creative, adapting on the fly to the sizes and shapes of materials available. This is one of those robotic paradoxes--building something that's easy for robots, like an exactly spaced curvy brick wall, is tricky for humans, while building something that's easy for humans, like a wall made out of pile of random rocks that doesn't spontaneously fall over, is tricky for robots.

Building things with robots is a nice idea, especially if robots are doing what they're best at: predictable, repetitive tasks like you get with bricklaying. When humans build structures, however, we can be a bit more creative, adapting on the fly to the sizes and shapes of materials available. This is one of those robotic paradoxes--building something that's easy for robots, like an exactly spaced curvy brick wall, is tricky for humans, while building something that's easy for humans, like a wall made out of pile of random rocks that doesn't spontaneously fall over, is tricky for robots. At ICRA this week, researchers from ETH Zurich are presenting a robot that's able to handle some of that variability that humans are so good at effortlessly coping with. With careful planning and a delicate touch, this robot arm is learning to autonomously build towers out of balanced pieces of limestone.