Robots are really advancing because they’re learning to think for themselves—and they’re close to figuring out door handles, execs say

While viral videos of robots performing parkour and backflips dominate social media feeds, industry insiders suggest these acrobatic feats are misleading indicators of progress. Industry executives at the Fortune Brainstorm AI conference, held in early December in San Francisco, argued that the true revolution in robotics is not physical agility, but the ability for robots to “think” for themselves—a capability that is finally bringing them closer to conquering the mundane, yet deceptively difficult...