Currently, when robots encounter something unexpected (a case for which it was not programmed) they get stuck.
Currently, when robots encounter something unexpected (a case for which it was not programmed) they get stuck. Suppose, instead of just getting stuck, the robot was able to reason about why it is stuck and enlist human help. For example, recent work on using robots to assemble IKEA furniture demonstrates that robots can recognize when a table leg is out of reach and ask humans to hand them the part. After receiving the part, the robots resume the assembly task. These are some of the first steps toward creating symbiotic human-robot teams where robots and humans can ask each other for help.