Google unveils new AI models to control robots, but the company is not telling the whole truth



Google announced two artificial intelligence models to help control robots and have them perform specific tasks like categorizing and organizing.

Gemini Robotics was described by Google as an advanced vision-language-action model built on Google's AI chatbot/language model Gemini 2.0. The company boasted physical actions as a new output modality for the purpose of controlling robots.

Gemini Robotics-ER, with "ER" meaning embodied reasoning, as Google explained in a press release, was developed for advanced spatial understanding and to enable roboticists to run their own programs.

The announcement touted the robots as being to perform a "wider range of real-world tasks" with both clamp-like robot arms and humanoid-type arms.

"To be useful and helpful to people, AI models for robotics need three principal qualities: they have to be general, meaning they’re able to adapt to different situations; they have to be interactive, meaning they can understand and respond quickly to instructions or changes in their environment," Google wrote.

The company added, "[Robots] have to be dexterous, meaning they can do the kinds of things people generally can do with their hands and fingers, like carefully manipulate objects."

Attached videos showed robots responding to verbal commends to organize fruit, pens, and other household items into different sections or bins. One robot was able to adapt to its environment even when the bins were moved.

Other short clips in the press release showcased the robot(s) playing cards or tic-tac-toe and packing food into a lunch bag.

The company went on, "Gemini Robotics leverages Gemini's world understanding to generalize to novel situations and solve a wide variety of tasks out of the box, including tasks it has never seen before in training."

"Gemini Robotics is also adept at dealing with new objects, diverse instructions, and new environments," Google added.

What they're not saying

Telsa robots displayed similar capabilities near the start of 2024. Photo by John Ricky/Anadolu via Getty Images

Google did not explain to the reader that this is not new technology, nor are the innovations particularly impressive given what is known about advanced robotics already.

In fact, it was mid-2023 when a group of scientists and robotics engineers at Princeton University showcased a robot that could learn an individual's cleaning habits and techniques to properly organize a home.

The bot could also throw out garbage, if necessary.

The "Tidybot" had users input text that described sample preferences to instruct the robot on where to place items. Examples like, "yellow shirts go in the drawer, dark purple shirts go in the closet," were used. The robot summarized these language models and supplemented its database with images found online that would allow it to compare the images with objects in the room in order to properly identify what exactly it was looking for.

The bot was able to fold laundry, put garbage in a bin, and organize clothes into different drawers.

About six or seven months later, Tesla revealed similar technology when it showed its robot, "Tesla Optimus," removing a T-shirt from a laundry basket before gently folding it on a table.

Essentially, Google appears to have connected its language model to existing technology to simply allow for speech-to-text commands for a robot, as opposed to entering commands through text solely.

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Yet Another University Doubles Down On Diversity Commitments Despite SCOTUS Ruling

Brown University announced on Wednesday its plan to increase diversity on campus despite the Supreme Court’s ruling banning affirmative action admission practices. The school follows in the University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) footsteps, which publicized its attempts to skirt the Court’s ruling in ways that may open it up to lawsuits, some experts believe. […]

Yale, Princeton, and Duke Threatened With Lawsuit Over Admissions Data

The group behind the lawsuit that brought down affirmative action in college admissions is demanding answers from universities that saw almost no change in the racial breakdown of their classes after the ban took effect, arguing that the similarity is evidence of discrimination and possible grounds for a lawsuit.

The post Yale, Princeton, and Duke Threatened With Lawsuit Over Admissions Data appeared first on .

Princeton Poised To Promote Professor Who Occupied Campus Building

Princeton University is on the verge of promoting a professor who participated in the occupation of a campus building that disrupted university operations and led to more than a dozen arrests, according to an email reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The post Princeton Poised To Promote Professor Who Occupied Campus Building appeared first on .

Pro-Palestinian students can’t name the ‘river’ or ‘sea’ they’re chanting about



College students were quizzed by social media influencer Zach Sage Fox, and despite offering them a $100 prize for correct answers, they weren’t able to pull it off.

“Have you guys chanted, ‘From the river to the sea'?” Fox asks one student, who answers, “Yes.”

“Okay, which river? Which sea?” He presses. This particular student is attending Sarah Lawrence, where the tuition is over $85,000 a year.

“She knows it's Jordan and Mediterranean,” Pat Gray says. “She knows that.”

“Because the state of education right now, with Biden in office, is so good that you would think she’d immediately know,” he jokes.

While Gray had hope, the girl, who was holding a pro-Palestinian sign, did not know the answer.

“What does Hamas say their number one goal is according to their charter?” Fox asked another pro-Palestinian student.

“They just want to free Palestine,” the student answers. “No,” Fox says. “Murder all Jews around the world.”

“How many years did Israel occupy Gaza?” he asks more students, who all get it wrong.

“It was actually under Egyptian control for the first twenty or so years, and then Israel actually left Gaza in 2006,” Fox explains to the clueless students, before asking one of the most chilling questions of all.

“How much have our foreign adversaries donated to American universities in the last decade?” he asks, to which again, no one knows the answer. “The answer was over six billion,” he says.

“That says everything right there. You don’t think they have influence over your kid’s education?” Keith Malinak says.


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Campus Terrorists Demand A Steady Supply Of Gluten-Free Meals

'I mean it’s crazy to say because we’re on an Ivy League campus but this is, like, basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for.'
DEBUNKED: Another Tall Tale from Biden
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DEBUNKED: Another Tall Tale from Biden

Exclusive: Notes from Princeton Activists Show Coordination Between Campus Radicals and Outside Groups Aimed at Outfoxing University Administrators

Organizers of the Columbia University encampment advised activists at Princeton on how to take over their own campus, giving them tips on disrupting university operations and stressing that there is "safety in numbers," according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The post Exclusive: Notes from Princeton Activists Show Coordination Between Campus Radicals and Outside Groups Aimed at Outfoxing University Administrators appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Terrorist Group Sponsored Princeton Anti-Israel Rally

A Palestinian terrorist group co-sponsored an anti-Israel rally at Princeton University on Friday, according to a flier advertising the event.

The post Terrorist Group Sponsored Princeton Anti-Israel Rally appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Ivy League professor says pro-bestiality article is 'thought-provoking,' claims zoophilia journal fights against cancel culture



An Ivy League professor received immediate backlash for describing an article promoting sexual relations with animals as "thought-provoking." After being lambasted online, the Princeton professor said the journal that supports zoophilia is fighting back against "cancel culture."

On Wednesday, Princeton University bioethics professor Peter Singer shared an article from the Journal of Controversial Ideas – a website where he is an editor and that he co-founded.

The article in question is titled: "Zoophilia Is Morally Permissible."

The premise of the article is: "As one of our most deeply entrenched social taboos, zoophilia is widely considered to be wrong, and having sex with animals is illegal in many countries. In this article, I would like to go against this de facto consensus and argue that zoophilia is morally permissible. This would have major implications for how we legally and socially deal with zoophilia."

The author – who wrote under the pseudonym Fira Bensto – claimed, "There is in fact nothing wrong with having sex with animals: it is not an inherently problematic sexual practice."

Singer posted the article on the X social media network, and said the article about humans having sex with animals is "thought-provoking."

"This piece challenges one of society's strongest taboos and argues for the moral permissibility of some forms of sexual contact between humans and animals," the Ivy League professor said. "This article offers a controversial perspective that calls for a serious and open discussion on animal ethics and sex ethics."

— (@)

Suggesting that bestiality is morally permissible was skewered by online commentators.

TheBlaze columnist Auron MacIntyre: "The enlightenment was a mistake."

Anti-abortion activist Lila Rose: "The pro-infanticide Princeton professor of 'bioethics,' Peter Singer, thinks the moral case for humans having sex with animals is 'thought-provoking.' Our Ivy Leagues are beyond depraved."

Theology professor Andrew Snyder: "'If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man' (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity). Turn back. Now."

Associate professor Jennifer A. Frey: "So, we can't eat animals but we can use them to satisfy our lust. Progress is amazing!"

Historian Joshua Charles: "'And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct.' St. Paul (Romans 1:28) Without grace enlightening his intellect and strengthening his will, the natural man cannot perceive, let alone follow, even the natural law."

Rutgers professor Gary Francione: "Peter Singer continues his campaign to get people to rethink bestiality. He has had a very negative impact on animal ethics in a number of ways. This is one. Another is his view that animals have to have humanlike self-awareness to have a moral interest in continuing to live."

Writer John Nolte: "What is 'thought-provoking' about torturing an animal, which is what this is, which is ALL this is? Good GOD."

Singer responded to the avalanche of criticism by defending the publisher.

Singer noted that he did not write the article, and claimed that the Journal of Controversial Ideas is a "journal that pushes back against 'cancel culture' by providing an outlet for controversial ideas, which authors can publish under a pseudonym."

"The fact that we judge an article worthy of publication does not indicate that I or my co-editors agree with the views contained in it," Singer added.

Singer attempted to justify the position of being pro-bestiality by comparing sex with animals to eating animals.

The Princeton professor juxtaposed animals in a factory farm that eventually gets slaughtered to "an animal living with a person who cares for you and loves you in all the ways that most people love their companion animals, but in addition, this person sometimes has sexual contact with you, making sure that the contact does not hurt you, and leaving you free to move away if you don't like it."

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