A Robot Learns to Shoot

In the latest episode of "stop teaching them so much," scientists have created a humanoid robot that teaches itself how to accurately hit a target with a bow and arrow.

The cute, childlike robot, named iCub, was designed by researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology. Armed with a bow, an arrow, a cute (if politically incorrect) Native American headdress and a complicated computer algorithm, the robot learns from his missed shots iteratively, until he makes the bull's-eye.

The task of firing an arrow, the researchers say, was picked for its inherent and obvious reward, and simultaneous marriage of motor control with image processing. Nothing to do with arming a bunch of human-hating robots to the teeth, allegedly.…

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