170. Robot That Drives Better Than The Average American

The Next Byte Podcast · 16 Apr 2024 · 20m

What this episode covers

Daniel and Forbode discuss research from Professor Sue Xiao’s Robotics Lab at George Mason University, which developed an autonomous robot capable of driving better than humans on variable terrain. The team instrumented an off-the-shelf robot with visual and inertial sensors to collect data on stability, training a machine learning model that reduced instability by 62% while sacrificing only 8.6% of speed. This technology, applicable to first responders and drones, allows robots to adapt their driving style to terrain changes like gravel or ice, improving safety for both autonomous and human-in-the-loop scenarios.

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