It's morning, and an older woman who is recovering from a stroke sits at the kitchen table. Her adult son, who has temporarily moved into the family home to help, makes coffee for his mother before heading to work, placing the mug on the table as he leaves.
The woman can't wait for that first sip, but there's a problem: her stroke has caused some weakness on one side of her body, which makes it difficult for her to lift and hold things, like her morning brew.
Imagine if, attached to the table, was a robotic arm that "sees" the coffee-filled mug through its cameras.
Using neural networks and artificial intelligence (AI) to process the visual information, it recognizes the coffee.
Then, another algorithm, trained using reinforcement learning, autonomously controls the robotic arm to pick up the mug and pass it without spilling.
While this scenario isn't yet possible, Dr. Brokoslaw Laschowski hopes it will be soon. Why?
The research scientist and principal investigator at UHN's KITE Research Institute is working to create intelligent robots to help people with physical disabilities. The novelty of his robotics research stems from his expertise in computational neuroscience.
"I research brain-inspired algorithms and brain-machine interfaces," he explains. "With regards to the first, I develop machine learning algorithms to mathematically model human perception, cognition, and motor control.
"These 'artificial brains' can then allow robots to think and control themselves."
While AI has existed for half a century, and deep learning — a technology designed to recreate how the human brain processes information and is considered the foundation of modern AI — was developed in the 1980s, integrating AI into the physical world is a problem that computer scientists are still trying to solve.
"Even the most sophisticated robots developed to date, such as the Boston Dynamics backflip robot, aren't fully autonomous," he adds. "It's one of the grand challenges we face as a field — bringing artificial intelligence into the real world."
