Children can do lots of things that robots and computers have trouble with. Climbing stairs, for example, is a tough thing for a robot. Recognizing objects is another area where humans are generally much better than robots. Kids can recognize blocks, shapes, colors, and extrapolate combinations and transformations.

Google’s open-source TensorFlow software can help. It is a machine learning system used in Google’s own speech recognition, search, and other products. It is also used in quite a few non-Google projects. [Lukas Biewald] recently built a robot around some stock pieces (including a Raspberry Pi) and enlisted TensorFlow to allow the robot to recognize objects. You can see a video of the device, below.

The robot uses a prebuilt demo of TensorFlow called “Inception” that can recognize objects. Text to speech software allows the robot to verbally tell you what it sees. According to [Lukas] the robot cost about $100 — a far cry from the machines he used during his time at the Stanford Robotics Lab.

We mentioned TensorFlow when we challenged you to build a clothes folding robot. We’ve also talked about using OpenCV for finding objects. What’s the smartest robot that you’ve seen?