Nope, not the annual Turing Award ceremony or even the NeurIPS conference. We’re talking about Embodied Mobile Manipulation Challenges at CVPR 2024!

Now, if you’re wondering what that is, let us explain: it’s basically a competition where robots try to pick up and move objects in real-world environments using cameras and sensors. And boy oh boy, are these challenges exciting!

First off, there’s the “Grab and Go” challenge, which involves picking up an object from one location and moving it to another without dropping or damaging it. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, not when you have a robot with limited dexterity and no common sense. We’ve seen some truly hilarious moments in this category, like the time a robot tried to pick up a banana using its suction cup only to accidentally suck itself onto the table instead!

Next up is the “Sorting Shenanigans” challenge, where robots have to sort objects into different categories based on their shape or color. This one’s particularly challenging because the objects can be quite similar in appearance and sometimes even identical twins! We’ve seen some pretty impressive feats of robot intelligence here, like the time a robot managed to correctly identify a red apple as an “apple” instead of a “red object.”

But perhaps the most exciting challenge is the “Maze Madness,” where robots have to navigate through a complex maze filled with obstacles and dead ends. This one’s particularly challenging because the mazes are designed specifically to confuse and disorientate even the smartest of robots! We’ve seen some truly epic fails in this category, like the time a robot got stuck in a corner for hours on end before finally giving up and throwing itself off the table.

Of course, there are plenty more challenges at CVPR 2024, but we don’t want to spoil all the surprises! Suffice it to say that these competitions showcase some of the most cutting-edge research in embodied mobile manipulation and offer a glimpse into the future of robotics.

So if you’re interested in seeing robots struggle with everyday tasks, head on over to CVPR 2024! Who knows, maybe one day we’ll have robots that can actually pick up their own socks without getting tangled in them!