The robots here are being trained to think.
In front of a makeshift kitchen inside what appears to be a plush, ultra-modern office, a humanoid machine stands to attention and waits for a command.
“Hey Figure 01, what do you see right now?", a man asks the robot.
“I see a red apple on a plate in the centre of a table,” Figure 01 replies. “A drying rack with cups and plates and you standing nearby with your hand on the table.”
The robot is then given a series of tasks to perform, including finding the man something to eat, organising rubbish and explaining why it made the decisions it did.
When asked to evaluate its performance, Figure 01 argues it did “pretty well”, before the man walks away from the now tidy kitchen while eating the apple he was handed.
The remarkable exchange was only made possible by recent advancements in artificial intelligence technology.
California-based Figure, the robotics start-up behind Figure 01, is incorporating OpenAI’s GPT software into its creations and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors such as Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The result? A walking, talking, dexterous robot that appears to understand humans and acts autonomously in the physical world.
“Every time I watch one of these videos, I’m stoked,” Meta researcher Jianing Yang tells The National. “It feels like this is all happening faster than you would expect.”
Mr Yang, who is originally from Beijing, is also pursuing a doctorate in computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan.
He does research on embodied AI and robotics and dreams of building and deploying household robots to homes around the world.
“If you look at the speed of progress [in this field], it is accelerating,” he says. “It isn’t just advancing at a constant speed, it is exponentially growing every year … I think this will come faster than what we thought.”
During his studies, Mr Yang created a robot that connects a large language model, in this case ChatGPT, with the real world.
Similarly to Figure 01, Mr Yang’s robot is able to scan its surroundings and understand complex language.
It turns real-life queries into code and then searches a 3D-mapped area to help with a user’s request.
“Imagine if you’re hungry and want some food,” Mr Yang says.
“The large language model will help process this request into software terminology, then find the interesting parts of a three-dimensional room that could potentially help with the user’s request.”
In a video published on YouTube, Mr Yang’s robot is seen locating a doughnut after its user complained about being hungry. It also finds a yellow yoga mat and a television upon request.
He envisions a future in which you unbox a brand new robot at home and it scans the room where it is switched on.
“Once you have that 3D representation or a mesh of your home, you can reason with various requests and commands on that representation.”
It’s not just Figure that is working to capitalise on this moment. The AI boom has set off a race in the field of robotics, with similar breakthroughs achieved by Agility Robotics, Sanctuary AI and 1X Technologies.
Tesla’s Optimus robot made headlines last year, sorting through coloured blocks and striking yoga poses.
Mr Yang says a number of Chinese companies are in the game, too, pointing to Unitree Robotics and UBTECH Robotics.
The latter had its Walker S robot strike the gong on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last year after it became the first humanoid robot company listed on the exchange’s main board.
Robots are already being tested and used in warehouse settings and Mr Yang predicts they will next arrive in the office. The final stop will be the home.
“Everyone has their own house or apartment and they’re all arranged differently,” Mr Yang says. “The diversity in the home is probably the highest.”
The only thing holding AI-powered robots back right now is a lack of data, Mr Yang believes.
“It’s very hard to collect robot data,” he says. “You can do a tiny operation that is currently very expensive or you do reinforcement learning, but it’s currently not very efficient in how fast the robot can learn a task.”
Reinforcement learning is a machine learning technique that mimics the trial-and-error process that humans use to develop skills and achieve goals.
Efforts in the robotics industry and academia are focused on this problem, Mr Yang says, but more is required to scale up the data.
“It’s still definitely not at the level needed,” he explains. “I think big innovation in both science and engineering has to happen to unblock robotics.”
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The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
Match info
Liverpool 3
Hoedt (10' og), Matip (21'), Salah (45 3')
Southampton 0
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm
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The specs: 2018 Audi RS5
Price, base: Dh359,200
Engine: 2.9L twin-turbo V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 450hp at 5,700rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 1,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
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SPECS
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
