Watch DARPA’s disembodied robo arm perform everyday tasks without human input

The robot developed by DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program has quite a huge skill set — for a disembodied arm with three fingers, anyway. It may not be able to shoot hoops like its fellow DARPA project, but it can perform 18 simple tasks that include opening doors, answering phones, stapling piles of paper, and using a drill, all without the need for human input.

The robot doesn't need a human controller — as you can see in the video above — thanks to its built-in cameras and sensors. A powerful software that controls the embedded hardware gives the arm the power to see and feel objects like we do, enabling it to effectively perform tasks on its own.

DARPA will continue to develop and tweak the arm further so it can accomplish tasks of increasing complexity. In the future, the military could use it for autonomous bomb dismantling, or incorporate the arm's technology into full robots that could be used for highly dangerous missions.

[via Wired]

This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca

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