MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) has a robot that can mirror the actions of a human just by watching their bicep. This has a number of practical applications, including potentially assisting a person to lift large or awkward objects, but it also can be applied to… more topical pursuits.
The robot, which CSAIL calls RoboRaise, managed to successfully take its cue from its human pal and perform the Bottle Cap Challenge, which is that thing going around right now where people (including tons of celebrities) either successfully or unsuccessfully try to demonstrate extreme motor control by kicking off the threaded cap of a plastic bottle with well-placed kick.
RoboRaise can’t kick because, well, because it’s just an arm — but it’s still an impressive demonstration of how well its mimicry and soft robotic hand appendage works to see it manage to spin the cap off the bottle without disturbing the bottle itself. The robot itself seems pretty pleased with it own prowess, too, judging by the smug smile on the face on its display.