Title

Machine Intelligence: bridging the gap between robotics and AI

Abstract

Important breakthroughs in robotics and artificial intelligence have enabled the first real-world applications of flexible, human-centered robot systems. Controlled by intelligent programming and interaction systems that "understand" man and machine, even laymen can use state-of-the-art robot technology for the first time. Their commercial introduction represents a step change in the way intelligent machines meet human needs beyond the industrial sector, e.g. also in the healthcare or private sector. In other words, they become everyday intelligent helpers in a wide variety of applications to make our lives easier. However, several grand challenges remain to be solved before unifying the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence to machine intelligence. First, the technological limits of sensory-motor and holistic system design need to be pushed significantly further in order to come closer to the unmatched performance and embodied intelligence of the human body. Second, we face the challenge of unifying the two previously separate paradigms of model-based control with data-driven machine learning algorithms such that next generation AI-algorithms seamlessly bridge the gap between physical and virtual world.