Increasingly adaptable robot can 'heal' itself in under 2 minutes

Robots that are damaged in action can now quickly "heal" themselves by tapping into experiences from simulated lives, according to a new study. It may sound like science fiction, but these abilities could lead to more robust, effective and autonomous robots, researchers say.

In experiments, a six-legged robot could adapt in little more than a minute to keep walking even if two of its legs were damaged, broken or missing. A robotic arm could also learn to place an object in the correct place even with several broken motors or joints.

"One thing we were surprised by was the extent of damage to which the robots could quickly adapt to," study co-author Jean-Baptiste Mouret, a roboticist at Pierre and Marie Curie University, in Paris, told Live Science. "We subjected these robots to all sorts of abuse, and they always found a way to keep working." Read more...