Nature has figured out how to do a lot of things right over the millennia, so scientists are turning to the animal kingdom for inspiration while putting together some new AI tools.

Engadget reports a team at the Institute of Neuroinformatics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland have taught a robot to act like a predator hunting its “prey,” using an algorithm to mark its prey and “pounce.” Though it might sound like we’re building Skynet’s human-hunting tools, the applications are actually far more benign (for now, at least): It could help luggage find its owner, or a shopping cart follow a shopper. Less kill-kill, more useful-useful. Hopefully.

The VISUALISE concept uses a “silicon retina” designed to mimic the human eye, and is based on actual behavioral concepts from the animal kingdom. Instead of tracking things frame by frame, it allows the AI to detect changes in illumination pixel by pixel for a quicker response time. It also incorporates a neural network, so the AI can learn and grow with experience, making it an even more efficient killing machine luggage-tracker.

Welcome to the future. Here’s hoping our future robot overlords use this tech for good, instead of evil.

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(Via Engadget)