Robot vs human: researchers compared how people and machines cope with different tasks

Who is better - a robot or a person? This question has long haunted the minds of ordinary people, directors and scientists, reports TechExplore.

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Science fiction films portray this idea relatively simply: the Terminator, who is trying to either destroy or save humanity, is a humanoid robot so advanced that in most cases it is superior to humans. But how well do humanoid robots perform outside of the silver screen today?

Dedicated to this issue new study lead author Robert Riener, professor of sensorimotor systems at ETH Zurich and founder of Cybathlon, published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI.

Comparing apples to apples

The first scientific challenge was to develop criteria that would allow meaningful comparisons between humans and machines. An industrial robot painting car bodies on a production line does it faster and more accurately than a human. It is specially designed for this, but also has no other abilities.

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Therefore, Riner excluded such robots from the study. “We humans shape our environment according to our criteria and needs. If robots are to provide meaningful support to us, they need to work in this artificial environment. So we quickly came up with robots that are similar to humans, at least anatomically,” he said.

It is for this reason that Riner took exclusively humanoid robots for research and included 27 corresponding samples in his work.

However, researchers have also identified certain selection criteria within this type of robot. “For example, it would be quite easy for a robot with roller skates to roll faster than a human could run, but we didn’t want to compare apples to pears,” Riener explains.

Therefore, only those robots were chosen that had two or four legs so that they could also climb stairs. They also need to have a slim figure to fit through doors and a certain height (at least 50cm) with arms and hands (or extendable arms and hands) so they can also pick up items on a tray or shelf. To be able to work with and support people, they also need to be quiet and emit no fumes.

Robots are clearly better - in terms of components

The initial result surprised even the researcher: when comparing individual components of machines and people, such as microphones with ears, cameras with eyes, or actuators with muscles, technical components always turn out to be better in terms of key sensorimotor properties.

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Today, for example, carbon fibers are used, which are harder than bones. If we do not take into account other properties of human bone, for example, its ability to self-heal, then the technical solution is clearly superior in terms of mechanical characteristics.

The most puzzling thing, as the ETH professor explains, is this: “The question arises why we cannot today build a robot from these high-quality components that has better movement and perception abilities than humans.”

This brings us to the second result of this comprehensive study: When you take into account the tasks that humans and machines have to perform, humans tend to outperform robots.

Although humanoid robots are also capable of walking and running, if we set the speed of walking or running based on body size, weight or energy consumption, most robots will not be able to change anything or progress at the same speed or pace as a human.

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At 6,1 meters per second, the MIT-Cheetah robot runs faster than a human jogger and lives up to its name. However, the four-legged robot has high power consumption (973 W), and is also used only in laboratory conditions. Humans are also significantly superior to robots in terms of endurance and operating time.

Karate Kid with Hard Knuckles

Robots benefit from performing certain functions due to their precision. “For example, robots can easily strain their joints when balancing on one leg, while humans tend to sway a little, which requires significantly more energy. The robots can also accurately recognize joint angles and follow movements very precisely, which is quite impressive and somewhat reminiscent of Karate Kid,” says Robert Riener.

The results are more mixed for another movement function, picking up objects: although robots can pick up objects very quickly, they cannot yet outperform us in terms of the many different hand movements and manipulative skills of our fingers. And another weakness of robots is in relation to various movements such as swimming, crawling and jumping, since they are only able to perform some of these movements.

On the contrary, most people are easily able to perform and combine several of these movements. The new study uses the game of soccer as an example: machines still have a long way to go to dribble the ball, head the ball, or analyze and interpret the strategy of other players.

Robots may support us in the future

So humanoid robots today are still just entertainment?

“No, the progress robotics has made in recent years is incredible. We want robots around us so they can help us with difficult or dangerous tasks. However, our man-made environment is very complex, and therefore it is not easy for robots to function autonomously and without errors. However, I am confident that with the powerful technical components available, we will soon be able to create more intelligent robots that can better interact with us humans,” says Riener.

The next big step, he says, will be to put more effort into systems design and automation technology to better integrate existing powerful components.

In this case, they could be used, for example, in the nursing and home care sector, in the construction industry or in the household, i.e. Wherever support is urgently needed, for example to free up staff and support people with reduced mobility.

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