From poems, essays and recipes to the design of robots, the leap can be short: ChatGpt made it, which designed its first robot together with researchers, helping them in all phases. The AI-based system has collaborated on the design of a robotic arm capable of picking tomatoes, and its advice, ideas and suggestions have been put into practice by the research group of the Dutch University of Delft, which includes two Italians, and by a researcher from the Federal Polytechnic of Lausanne.
Published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, the result had positive results, but at the moment a scenario in which ChatGpt can design a robot autonomously is not possible and, according to the researchers, not even desirable. “We wanted ChatGpt not to design just any robot – observes Cosimo Della Santina, co-author of the study led by Francesco Stella – but one that was really useful”.
The farmer robot
The choice therefore fell on a robot-farmer for tomatoes, the crop which according to ChatGpt would be economically more advantageous to automate. The researchers followed the chabot’s design advice, which was particularly useful in the conceptual phase: “ChatGpt can broaden engineers’ knowledge to other areas of expertise,” comments Stella.
But the system has also provided interesting suggestions in the actual construction phase: “Build the gripper in silicone or rubber, to avoid crushing the tomatoes”, or by indicating the most suitable motor to make the robot move. The study authors found the collaboration positive and enriching. «However – adds Stella – we realized that our role as engineers has shifted towards the execution of more technical tasks».
