Assembling that new cabinet or entertainment center can be a real pain in the butt. Mostly because you need an extra pair of arms. It helps if you are an octopus. If you are tired of assembling IKEA furniture, researchers have created a new robot to help.
This robot uses a force sensor and a vision-tracking system to learn how a user wants it to move. Then the robot basically becomes an extra pair of hands to help you with the task at hand. The robot moves freely when the user tugs on a table top and can become stiff as a person screws in the legs.
So it isn’t just an extra pair of hands, but a pair that knows what they are doing. Take that IKEA. Now can you explain where this extra screw was supposed to go?
[via Livescience & IEEE Spectrum]
