In an innovative development, engineering firm Boston Dynamics has integrated ChatGPT, a sophisticated language model developed by OpenAI, into one of its prominent robots, Spot. This canine companion is now equipped to offer guided tours of a building, providing detailed commentary on each exhibit along the way.
Spot has undergone a remarkable transformation and now boasts a selection of distinctive personalities. Depending on the person chosen, the robot’s voice, tone and personalized comments are adapted accordingly.
To perceive its environment, Spot uses Visual Question Answering (VQA) models, capable of generating captions for images and providing concise answers to queries about them. This visual data is updated approximately once per second and transmitted to the system as a text message.
The Spot’s communication capabilities have also been enhanced by adding a specially designed vibration-resistant mount for a Respeaker V2 speaker, a ring-shaped microphone adorned with LEDs. This innovative hardware integrates seamlessly with Spot’s EAP 2 payload via USB.
Control of the robot is managed by an external computer, either a desktop or laptop, which communicates with Spot through its software development kit (SDK). A simple Spot SDK service has been implemented to facilitate audio communication with the EAP 2.
For verbal responses, Spot relies on ElevenLabs’ text-to-speech service. To optimize response time, engineers have devised a system where text is streamed to the tool in parallel as “sentences” and the resulting audio is played serially.
Adding a touch of personality, Spot now exhibits body language capabilities. He can identify and track moving objects, allowing him to discern the location of the nearest person and direct his arm toward it. To create a whimsical touch, he applied a low-pass filter to the generated speech, imitating the movement of a puppet’s mouth. This effect is further accentuated by decorating the clip with comical costumes and adding googly eyes.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this experiment lies in the inherent logic of the ai, which required minimal adjustment. When asked about his “parents,” Spot surprisingly navigated to the place where his predecessors resided, humorously declaring them his “elders.” This is a testament to the model’s ability to establish statistical associations between concepts without implying consciousness.
However, it is worth noting that the demonstration has its limitations. Spot, like many language models, may occasionally experience hallucinations, in which he generates fictitious information. An intriguing example of this phenomenon can be found in an article analyzing a Sims-inspired city populated by ai agents. Additionally, there is a slight delay in responses, with users occasionally experiencing a wait time of approximately six seconds.
Despite these minor setbacks, this project marks an important advance in research at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence. Boston Dynamics is committed to further exploring this fusion of technologies, with the ultimate goal of improving robotic performance in human-centered environments. This promising effort has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with machines, ushering in a new era of intelligent companionship.
Review the Reference article. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, don’t forget to join. our 32k+ ML SubReddit, Facebook community of more than 40,000 people, Discord Channel, and Electronic newsletterwhere we share the latest news on ai research, interesting ai projects and more.
If you like our work, you’ll love our newsletter.
we are also in Telegram and WhatsApp.
Niharika is a Technical Consulting Intern at Marktechpost. She is a third-year student currently pursuing her B.tech degree at the Indian Institute of technology (IIT), Kharagpur. She is a very enthusiastic person with a keen interest in machine learning, data science and artificial intelligence and an avid reader of the latest developments in these fields.
<!– ai CONTENT END 2 –>
