Quantum computer-powered robots could soon match humans, scientists predict

The convergence of quantum computing and artificial intelligence will result in robots with human-level capabilities, according to an international team of scientists.

A new field of quantum robotics is expected to emerge that will address the technological limitations of classical robotics, the researchers wrote in a new study exploring recent advances in next-generation computing and mechanical design.

“Quantum computation and artificial intelligence are separately considered transformative technologies that are shaping our present and future. The prospect of combining the two paradigms portends astounding computing power and human-level intelligence for resulting technologies,” the researchers wrote in a new study, titled ‘Quantum robotics: a review of emerging trends’.

“One area that seems ripe to reap from this amalgamation is the field of robotics. This could potentially lead to the realisation of advanced robots that are controlled using quantum computing resources.”

The concept of quantum computing has been around for decades, but only in recent years has the prospect of a functional machine been considered a serious possibility.

By utilising the peculiar properties of quantum physics, quantum computers have the potential to be orders of magnitude more powerful than today’s leading supercomputers.

They work by replacing traditional bits – the ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’ used to store and transfer digital data – with quantum bits, called qubits, that make use of a quantum phenomena known as superposition to exist in two states at once.

This means the qubits can serve as both a ‘one’ and a ‘zero’ simultaneously, so that each qubit added makes them exponentially more powerful than conventional computers with the equivalent number of bits.

The issues with current robots, according to the latest report, are that they use binary computing frameworks in order to navigate complex modern demands. These limitations could potentially be overcome by using quantum algorithms and quantum processes within next-generation quantum robots, or qubots.

The researchers noted that there are still significant technical challenges with both hardware and software before quantum robots can be realised.

Most major tech firms, as well as governments around the world, are already making significant investments into both quantum computing and artificial intelligence, though no large-scale effort is being made to converge the two.

“We note that while the technologies to realize advanced qubots are still dispersed and the knowledge for their integration into sophisticated units is challenging, our review has highlighted the recent developments in different fields that would together coalesce into the state-of-the-art qubots we envision,” the study concluded.

“The gradual maturity and renewed interest in quantum information and quantum control theories suggest that the realization of qubots is a matter of when, not if.”