Jenga-playing robot built by MIT engineers

ROUGH CUT. NO REPORTER NARRATION. Even the most nimble-fingered of Jenga players would be no match for a robot built by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The popular game involves players trying to avoid the collapse of a tower as they remove wooden pieces one by one. The robot uses a gripper with a force-sensing wrist and an external camera to see and feel which Jenga block can be removed without jeopardising the tower’s stability. The research, published in the journal Science Robotics, demonstrates the robot’s ability to learn the best way to carry out a task by combining visual clues with tactile, physical interactions. The team says the tactile learning system they’ve developed could be used in applications beyond Jenga in real-world tasks that need careful physical interaction, including separating recyclable objects from landfill and assembling consumer products.