Embodied Robot Skills and Good Old Fashioned Engineering

Summary

Michael Yu Wang, Chair Professor and Founding Dean of the School of Engineering at Great Bay University, argues for combining "good old fashioned engineering" (GOFE) with learning-based approaches like LLMs for robot skill acquisition, particularly in manipulation. He suggests a modular framework that integrates engineering principles with learning, drawing inspiration from human hand-eye coordination and tactile perception. Wang emphasizes the need to address engineering features of robot tactile sensors, such as spatial and temporal resolutions, to achieve human-like robot manipulation skills. Why it matters: This perspective highlights the importance of hybrid approaches combining traditional engineering with modern AI for advancing robotics, especially in complex manipulation tasks relevant to industries in the GCC region.