Google Launches New AI Models That Let Robots Do Physical Tasks Without Training

Google launched two new AI models tailored for robotics applications on Wednesday based on its Gemini 2.0 model, as it looks to cater to the rapidly growing robotics industry. The robotics field has made large strides over the past few years with increasing advancements in AI and improving models, speeding up the commercialisation of robots largely in industrial settings, according to industry experts.

Google's launch comes a month after robotics startup Figure AI exited its collaboration agreement with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI after it made an internal breakthrough in AI for robots.

The search engine giant's Gemini Robotics is an advanced vision-language-action model that will have physical actions as a way to provide output. The second model, named Gemini Robotics-ER, will enable a robot to have an advanced understanding of the space around it and let developers run their own programs using reasoning abilities offered by Gemini 2.0. 

Google said its models are designed for robots of all form factors including humanoids and other types used in factories and warehouses. 

Using robotics-focused AI models developed by the likes of Google and OpenAI can help cash-strapped startups reduce development costs and increase the speed at which they can take their products to market. 

Google said it tested the Gemini Robotics model on data from its bi-arm robotics platform, ALOHA 2, but can be specialised for complex use cases such as Apptronik's Apollo robot. Apptronik raised $350 million in a funding round last month led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google to scale production of AI-powered humanoid robots.

Google had bought robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics in 2013, and sold the company, known for its dog-like and humanoid robots, to SoftBank Group Corp about four years later.

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