Collaborative Dual-arm Robot Manipulator (CURI) has been busy in the kitchen, practising various cooking tasks like dough rolling. Picture this: a robot rolling out dough with the precision of a seasoned chef, but without the floury mess! While CURI hasn’t cooked actual food yet, the dream is for it to become your personal Michelin-starred chef. Imagine a robot that not only watches but learns and perfects your favourite recipes, delivering dishes so perfectly seasoned, you’ll think it has a secret stash of grandma’s recipes.
Developed at The Chinese University of Hong Kong by Professor Chen Fei, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, CURI is extremely dexterous. It’s as dexterous as a person is, in fact – but, harnessing the power of AI, it’s also capable of learning from its observations of people, and of doing so surprisingly quickly. It can work out how to shake hands with someone after the action is demonstrated to it five or 10 times, for example, and is capable of cooking your favourite meal after just 30 demonstrations.
The AI observes a human doing something and decodes the logic behind it; effectively, it is able to work out how humans behave and then do the same thing, as many times as it’s asked to, with total accuracy (and, unlike a human, it’s unlikely to complain about having to do so). By doing so, it makes it much easier, more efficient and safer for people and robots to interact and collaborate.
“Our vision is to create a truly general-purpose robot capable of performing a wide array of tasks that humans encounter daily,” says Professor Chen. “Our unique approach focuses on teaching the robot skills through human demonstrations, ensuring human-like task execution.”
CURI is an unusual, interesting looking creature, pretty much resembling the top half of your typical science fiction robot, mounted on a mobile base equipped with four wheels. It has somewhat human-like features, but nothing unsettlingly realistic. Its head comes with an eye slit, through which it sees using a RGB-D camera, a type of camera that’s capable of providing both depth and colour information in real time. Its torso can twist like a contortionist’s; and its long, extremely adaptable arms come with hands attached to them, which can be extremely sensitively calibrated in terms of the amount of force they deliver, and which can be swapped out for a range of other useful specialised tools designed specifically for particular tasks. The base, meanwhile, can move in a single direction, finding its way around using a laser scanner.
“CURI’s dual-arm system and advanced mobile platform make it particularly adept at tasks that require coordinated movements and precise manipulation,” says Professor Chen. “Additionally, CURI shines in human-robot collaborative scenarios, such as co-transporting large objects and performing immersive tele-manipulation tasks.”
In other areas, Professor Chen and his team are still working on improving CURI’s capabilities, he adds.
“CURI currently faces challenges with tasks that require extremely fine motor skills or complex decision-making beyond its current AI capabilities. For instance, tasks involving intricate object manipulation, like threading a needle, or those requiring advanced cognitive abilities, such as engaging in open-ended conversations or making complex ethical decisions, are still areas of ongoing development.”
The current version of the robot is still pretty giant, which means that it’s best suited to industrial tasks; in fact, it’s proved particularly adept at working in warehouses, effortlessly lifting and moving heavy boxes around. However, the professor and his team are working on a smaller, human-scale version that can be used around the home, where it can help out with daily chores such as folding clothes and cooking, and also in medical settings, where it could perform a variety of first aid tasks, including critical ones such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the future, it could also be deployed in a wide range of commercial settings, says Professor Chen.
“In manufacturing, CURI could handle assembly line tasks and quality control. In healthcare, it could assist in patient care and rehabilitation. The hospitality industry could benefit from CURI’s ability to perform various service tasks; while in retail, it could manage inventory and customer service roles.”
Ensuring this happens is SOTA Robotics (HK) Limited, a start-up formed by members of the team to commercialise CURI, with support from the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities and CUHK’s Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics.
At the same time, Professor Chen and his team are working to push the robot forward in various other ways, in addition to making it smaller. “Currently, we are in the process of developing CURI Gen2, set to launch in mid-2025,” he says. “This next-generation CURI promises to be more agile, lightweight and intelligent, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in humanoid robotics. CURI Gen2 will incorporate the latest advancements in generative AI, materials science and control systems, further cementing its position at the forefront of robotics technology and paving the way for more sophisticated human-robot interactions.”
