Google lays off 100 'Robot Workers', here's what they used to do before getting fired

The parent company of Google, Alphabet, recently lay off 12,000 employees, including 100 robots that cleaned the office cafeterias. Wired claims that Google CEO Sundar Pichai has ended the 'Everyday Robots' project at Alphabet's X labs for experimental research.

It has programmed a hundred wheeled robots with just one arm to assist clean the corporate canteens. Many of these prototype robots have made it out of the lab and are already doing important tasks at several Google locations in the Bay Area. 

These robots wipe off counters and sort recyclables from rubbish. Throughout the epidemic, the robots also helped clean the meeting rooms. As the robots department is no longer in operation, some of the technologies it developed might be used to other departments. 

During the last several years, Alphabet has been hard at work on a comprehensive hardware and software system for education, one that facilitates knowledge transfer across the virtual and real worlds.

Using a variety of machine learning approaches, including reinforcement learning, collaborative learning, and learning from demonstration, the robots gradually developed a deeper understanding of their environments and improved their ability to carry out everyday tasks.

As this is going on, in an effort to reduce expenses even further, Google has requested that workers who return to work share their work stations with a "partner" in order to make the most efficient use of office space.

(With inputs from IANS)