Watch a robot peel a banana without crushing it into oblivion

Chris Potter-Walker

A robot trained by machine learning can peel a banana without breaking it.

Handling soft fruit is a challenge for robots, which often lack the dexterity and nuanced touch to process items without destroying them. The computer-vision algorithms that act as the brains of suchrobots can be flummoxed by the unevenly shaped fruit.

A machine-learning system has been developed by Heecheol Kim and his colleagues at the University of Tokyo.

A human operating the robot peeled hundreds of bananas, creating 811 minutes of demonstration data to train the robot to do it on its own. The task was divided into nine stages, from grasping the banana to picking it up off the table with one hand, grabbing the tip in the other, peeling it, and moving the banana so the rest of the skin can be removed.

The machine-learning model maps out a trajectory for broad movements that are unlikely to damage the banana.