It had trained 100 one-armed wheeled robots to assist in the cleaning of the company's cafeterias. Some of these robot prototypes were taken out of the lab and deployed throughout Google's Bay Area operations.
Digital Desk: Alphabet, Google's parent company, has now laid
off robots that cleaned its cafeterias at its headquarters, as the layoff
crisis unfolds. This comes only a month after the computer behemoth laid off
12000 human workers. According to Wired, Alphabet's 'Everyday Robots' project - a division of Google's experimental X laboratories - has been terminated by
Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
It had trained 100 one-armed wheeled robots to assist in the
cleaning of the company's cafeterias. Some of these robot prototypes were taken
out of the lab and deployed throughout Google's Bay Area operations.
These robots cleaned tables and separated
trash and recycling. During the pandemic, the robots also assisted in keeping
conference rooms clean. With the robot division no longer in operation, some of
its technology may be applied to other divisions.
Alphabet has spent the last few years
constructing an integrated hardware and software learning system, including
knowledge transfer from the virtual to the physical world.
Using a combination
of machine learning approaches such as reinforcement learning, collaborative
learning, and learning from demonstration, the robots gradually gained a better
understanding of their surroundings and were more adept at performing routine tasks.
Meanwhile,
in a bid to further cut costs, Google has even asked employees who return to
work to share their work desks with a “partner” to maximise office space.
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