Researchers working on the COSPAL project have developed a new robotic AI that they claim is the most advanced of its kind.

They have created a robot that, using both learning neural AI techniques and traditional rules-based AI, can be trained like a small child or puppy.

The robot has already been able to figure out simple sorting tasks on its own. COSPAL aims to transform this AI into something that can be integrated with a car to adjust to unforeseen driving conditions.

Don’t worry though, robots are not quite ready to take over just yet. Michael Felsberg, a researcher at COSPAL, says that we probably won’t see adult-level AI based on this system in our lifetimes. It will be interesting to see if Felsberg is right, or if the recent prediction by Ray Kurzweil holds up. [via Engadget]

That’s right, we could have a real Terminator on our hands by 2029, at least according to Ray Kurzweil, a leading US inventor. We’re not necessarily talking killing machines here, but Kurzweil believes that by that time machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence.

The engineer predicts that machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body. Kurzweil thinks that these robots would boost our intelligence and health.

“I’ve made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029,” he said. Read more »