There's no shame in struggling to assemble a bit of Ikea furniture. Really. The instructions are nearly indecipherable, the parts all look nearly the same, and even minor assemblies can feel like they require a minimum of three hands.
To add insult to injury, it appears that robots have gotten the problem completely figured out. A group of scientists have trained two assembly line robots in how to assemble the frame of an Ikea chair without any difficulty at all:
To help them accomplish their task, the robots use their included pressure sensors and grippers to handle the material, and 3D cameras to sense what’s going on around them. Software that helps them put these elements to work does the rest. Not a bad trick, but upcoming robot carpenters might just give these two a run for their money.
To add insult to injury, it appears that robots have gotten the problem completely figured out. A group of scientists have trained two assembly line robots in how to assemble the frame of an Ikea chair without any difficulty at all:
To help them accomplish their task, the robots use their included pressure sensors and grippers to handle the material, and 3D cameras to sense what’s going on around them. Software that helps them put these elements to work does the rest. Not a bad trick, but upcoming robot carpenters might just give these two a run for their money.
