This Chinese 'school' teaches robots to perform tasks using VR

A specialized robot training facility in Hefei, China, known as an embodied intelligent robot training environment, is pioneering the use of virtual reality (VR) to teach robots practical skills in real-world scenarios. Human trainers wearing VR headsets guide robot "students" through fine motor tasks such as picking up tools and tightening screws, with each robot receiving around 200 action sequences daily. This hands-on approach allows robots to gather physical data and develop machine learning models that enable them to generalize tasks beyond memorized motions, adapting to variable conditions like different screw types or uneven surfaces. The school serves as China’s first public robot training platform offering shared resources such as computing power, datasets, and realistic simulated environments, which are typically costly for smaller companies to develop independently. It supports multiple business models, allowing companies to co-run, operate independently, or purchase training services. By bridging the gap between simulated training and real-world performance, the initiative aims to accelerate the development of versatile autonomous robots capable of functioning effectively in logistics