Kim's research team made their legged robot completely blind to show what its low-level reactive behaviours could do.
Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
The second judge said resolved true; the verdict shown is the first judge's.
What would count as true or false
True if publications or demonstrations by Sangbae Kim's MIT team (the Cheetah 3 robot, 2018) show the robot climbed stairs or obstacles with no vision or exteroceptive sensing ('blind'), and the team presented this as showing what its low-level reactive or proprioceptive control could do. Mostly true if the robot was run blind on stairs but the stated purpose differs a little, or the robot was blind in that demonstration while carrying cameras it was not using. Mostly false if the robot used some limited external sensing in the stair demonstration. False if the evidence shows the robot relied on vision or other external perception for the stair climbing.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (3)
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E1 Without eyes, MIT's Cheetah robot moves by feel Axios · 8 July 2018
“navigating stairs and uneven surfaces guided only by sensors on its feet.”
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E2 Without eyes, MIT's Cheetah robot moves by feel Axios · 8 July 2018
“So his team built a "blind" version in order to focus on tactile sensing.”
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E3 Without eyes, MIT's Cheetah robot moves by feel Axios · 8 July 2018
“Kim's team plans to add cameras back onto the Cheetah in order to help it get around complex environments.”
Reasoning
Axios, an independent source, reports that MIT's Cheetah robot climbed stairs and crossed uneven ground "guided only by sensors on its feet" (E1). It also reports that Kim's team deliberately built a "blind" version "to focus on tactile sensing" (E2), and that the team planned to add cameras back later (E3). This supports the claim that the robot was run blind on stairs to show its touch-based control. However, the stated purpose (focusing on tactile sensing) differs slightly from demonstrating reactive low-level behaviours, and all three quotes come from a single news report rather than the team's own publication.
Cite this claim
Rodney Brooks, “Kim's research team made their legged robot completely blind to show what its low-level reactive behaviours could do.” (said 15 July 2018). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_bdf327a73918, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_bdf327a73918
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
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Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.