Facebook has announced Habitat 2.0, “a next-generation simulation platform” that lets artificial intelligence (AI) researchers teach machines not only to navigate through photo-realistic 3D virtual environments but also to interact with objects just as they would in an actual kitchen, dining room, or other commonly used space.
FB said on its official blog that Habitat 2.0 builds on the original open source release of AI Habitat with faster speeds as well as interactivity, so AI agents can easily perform the equivalent of many years of real world actions such as picking items up, opening & closing drawers and doors, etc.
Habitat 2.0 also includes a new fully interactive 3D data set of indoor spaces & new benchmarks for training virtual robots in these complex physics-enabled scenarios. With this new data set & platform, AI researchers can go beyond just building virtual agents in static 3D environments & move closer to creating robots that can easily & reliably perform useful tasks like stocking the fridge, loading the dishwasher, etc, added Facebook.
