‘Superhuman’ AI robots can now ‘see through walls and scan for any object’

Losing your keys is history as robots have become like Superman and started seeing through walls.

MIT researchers are building machines with AI “superhuman perception” that can scan and locate any object using radio waves.

They could soon be working in Amazon-style warehouses or help you pluck out a screwdriver from a messy toolkit.

Professor Fadel Adib said in a paper: “Researchers have been giving robots human-like perception.

“We’re trying to give robots superhuman perception.”

He claimed they could become like Alexa at home as “you could imagine the robot finding lost items.

“It’s like a super-Roomba that goes and retrieves my keys, wherever the heck I put them.”

State-of-the-art droids have already been built with human-like sight, touch and even smell.

They are taking over dangerous warehouse jobs but still struggle locating items in boxes or hidden behind others on a shelf.

The new tech is hoped to change that with a prototype called RF-Grasp using light and radio waves in tandem.

Study coauthor Alberto Rodriguez, an associate professor, said: “Perception and picking are two roadblocks in the industry today.

“Radio Frequency (RF) is such a different sensing modality than vision. It would be a mistake not to explore what RF can do.”

Lead author Tara Boroushaki said bots of the future could use the tech to scan for any object with a tiny computer chip tag like ones in microchipped pets.

Tech superpower Japan is years from using it to track in nearly all its retail products but it involves clever AI systems.

Boroushaki said: “The robot has to decide, at each point in time, which of these streams is more important to think about.

“It’s not just eye-hand coordination, it’s RF-eye-hand coordination. So, the problem gets very complicated.”

Prof Adib explained a RF reader can zero in on the chip’s tiny signal like the hot and cold game.

He said: “It starts by using RF to focus the attention of vision.

“Then you use vision to navigate fine manoeuvres.”

The researchers added tests showed the RF Grasp took about half the time to find a target object than a robot without RF vision.

It also had the unique ability to “declutter” its environment which Dr Rodriguez said showed its “unfair advantage” over bots with less sophisticated sensing.

He said: “It has this guidance that other systems simply don’t have.”

The academic said the tech could replace the need for barcodes as it can verify the item’s identify by scanning alone.

He said: “RF has the potential to improve some of those limitations in industry, especially in perception and localisation.”