[Houshalter]

I tied a rope to my door handle and put a treat on the other side of the door. I tried for half an hour to get my dog to learn how to open the door. I demonstrated it many times. I guided his motions through the procedure. I put a treat on the rope to encourage him to interact with it. He moved the door chewing on the treat, but still didn't learn how to open the door on purpose. I gave up.

So yeah maybe it's not anywhere near human intelligence. But its still cool they've made a robot smarter than my dog.

[miltondts]

I think this says more about your lack of knowledge. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSvu3mj-14 for more information.

EDIT: To provide a bit more information. I provide a video because I think it is much more impactful to see what happens than to read it. In this video you can see how an appropriate history of reinforcement will lead to very complex behavior in simple animals. By complex I mean behavior like "talking" and "problem solving".

Here is the 2nd part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erhmslcHvaw