Robots may seem smart, but they cannot even pick up a chess piece. Let's take a look at some tasks that are easy for kids but not for robots.
Pick things up
Picking things up is not easy. If we drop our pencil on the floor, our brains work hard. First we must find the pencil. Then we move our hands to it. A robot cannot always move its "hand" to the right place. When we touch the pencil, it might roll (滚动) a little bit. Robots cannot easily understand this either. So, if you drop a pencil on the floor, a robot will probably roll it around the room.
Get around in large space
If someone drops us in a building we've never been to, we might feel a bit lost. But we can look around, find a door and get out quickly. But a robot will look everywhere for a door, even on ceilings (天花板) and floors. This is because it's hard for them to understand spaces, especially large, blank things such as walls or ceilings.
Understand the world made by people
"Common sense" is what we don't need to think or talk about. Because of common sense, we do not look for doors on the ceiling. We pick up a coffee cup by its handle (把手). We feel whether it has coffee inside, and whether it is hot.
A robot? It may turn the cup upside down. It may hold the hot part of the cup. Scientists have tried teaching robots common-sense rules. But even huge databases (数据库) don't help much. Maybe they need more time to learn.
