7 Common Email Mistakes (and What to Do Instead)

7 Common Email Mistakes (and What to Do Instead)7 Common Email Mistakes (and What to Do Instead) Just as every email is an opportunity for professional growth, theres also the potential to fall into common bad habits . Here are eight mistakes to avoidGrammarly users know that when it comes to hedging , its better to omit it than leave it in, especially in emails. And if youre worried about coming off as impolite, dont be. Contrary to popular belief, hedging language makes you sound less confident, which can ultimately undermine your writing.What to do instead State your idea or opinion, then explain the why behind your reasoning. That way, youll be better understood and your brilliance can shine through.Would you read an email that was 1,000 words long? Probably not - fruchtwein people skim emails that are on the long side. And if you add hard-to-follow sentences or mixed messages to your draft, youre even less likely to get a satisfactory response. (Or any response .)I get a ton of emails that are just behauptung huge blocks of text. And I understand why they do that - so you have enough detail. But its really hard to read and Im not going to read the whole thing, says Kat Boogaard, a Wisconsin-based freelance writer .What to do instead Keep it concise and focus on the matter at hand. Then end with a call to action, a requested response date and make it clear that youre open to questions and follow-ups (if thats the case).Depending on your circumstances, wavering too much to the casual or formal side of writing can be a misstep. Being overly casual is often seen as a rookie mistake , but stiff, formal language can also be detrimental to your message.What to do instead In striking the perfect balance between formal and casual, the key is thinking about the relationship between yourself and the recipient and take social cues as your communication progresses.You kind of want to see what someone else is doing and participate, play along, sort o f acknowledge the way communication develops and the way expectations in a relationship develop, says Dan Post Senning, anetiquette expertat the Emily Post Institute .Heres a tip While GIFs and emojis can be great for creating a sense of comradery between coworkers, these can be seen as overly casual in many contexts.Be careful in new relationships. The intelligent use of emoticons in emails can help you be more understood. At the same time, a lot of people will read it as unprofessional, so until youve established that relationship, you want to be careful with how you use it. Take care and think about it, says Post Senning.Not all email cliches are cardinal sins. Certain aspects of your emails are bound to be a little formulaic. After all, most emails have the same basic structure, and there are phrases that you may use to ensure clarity or cover your bases. But if youre going to repeat phrases, make sure they have a clear purpose.As Kiera Wright-Ruiz, a social media manager at Go ogles Local Guides puts it, Even though I always repeat, please let me know if you have any questions, I actually do want to know if they have questions.However, most of the time, youll want to edit out cliches whenever possible since they can make people tune out. Here are the top seven to avoidWhat to do instead Try reading the draft for cliches, tone and voice to more effectively communicate your message while keeping the reader engaged. Ask yourself If your boss (or mom) read this email, would you be happy with it? If the answer is yes, then youre on the right track.People often repeat words within the same paragraph, twice in two sentences or just too close together to go unnoticed. While its not the worst offense, its another thing that can make a reader tune out.Here are a few of the most commonly repeated words to avoidWhat to do instead Try reading your draft out loud, using the text-to-speech function on your phone, or running it by a colleague before sending it off. Gramm arly can also help you catch these repeated or overused words.Email may be a descendant of snail mail, but that doesnt mean your messages should sound like an old-timey version of yourself. In fact, emails should sound like the person who is writing it. So using phrases that sound like something out of a Victorian novel isnt the best move if you want to connect with the reader.Lets face it Nobody wants to read a college textbook. You want to read a blog or an article or a real conversation. Theyre a person, theyre not a robot. So use language that sounds like something you would say if youre just sitting in a coffee shop, saysCole Schafer, founder and copy chief of Honey Copy .What to do instead You can get a more natural effect by pretending youre writing to a friendor having a conversation with a friendly acquaintance. For example, you probably wouldnt say something like, Greetings and I hope the weather is fair where you are if you were meeting someone for coffee. Youd say somet hing like, Hi and Thanks again for your time.Enthusiasm is great. But in certain contexts, the overuse of exclamation points can do more harm than good. This is especially true if youre forging a new relationship or contacting someone outside of your company. You are, after all, a representative of your work when you use a company email address. But people love exclamation points, and theyre mucksmuschenstill something that many people rely on to convey a positive tone.For example, here are some of the most common sentences and words people use with exclamation points in emailsWhat to do instead After youve written your draft, do a quick search for exclamation points and use your judgment to determine which (if any) to keep based on your relationship with the recipient. As a general rule, try to keep it to one or two per email with colleagues.A version of this article was originally published on Grammarly . It is reprinted with permission.

Explanations Go a Long Way on Resumes

Explanations Go a Long Way on Resumes Explanations Go a Long Way on Resumes Its difficult to balance out the amount of information presented in a resume. With the shorter attention spans today, its important to get to the point. You dont want to bog the reader down with reams of useless information but you also need to make sure you include vital information that demonstrates why you are worthy of further consideration. You cant just cut your resume down for the sake of word count.Make Sure Your Resume Includes Pertinent InformationWhile there are many areas this tipcould apply to, lets focus on past employment. As a hiring manager, this is the first area of a candidates resume that I look at. I want to see if the candidate has any related work experience, and I want to see how stable their employment history is.fruchtwein hiring managers are looking for long-term employees, and stability is important. Despite that, I receive more resumes today than ever before with tenures of fiv e months here, four months there, and seven months here, with no explanation. Short job tenures are notlage bad in and of themselves, but without an explanation of some kind, the worst is assumed. I will usually not waste my time doing a simple phone screen and definitely not an in-person interview with a candidate that has a history of unexplained short-tenured positions.Case in PointA good friend of mine found herself unemployed at the end of 2013 due to staff cuts resulting from her company being bought out. Her unemployment dragged on for about six months, with very little activity.After looking at her resume, I figured out why. She had a stable work history with three companies up until 2009, averaging eight years of tenure at each business. Then, after 2009, she had six jobs in a couple different industries. It was no wonder she was not getting any calls It looked as if something had happened to make her very unstable in thisperiod.My friend had been employed in the building material industry for her entire career. Beginning in mid-2006, the housing slow down led to tough times in that industry. My friend had been laid off or downsized in company buyouts or mergers four times during this period. She was also a single mother and had to take a few part-time jobs to pay her mortgage and put food on the table.Just looking at her resume, you could not tell any of this. It looked as if something had gone haywire and hiring managers were reluctant to even call her. Dont expect that a hiring manager is going to take the time to try and connect the dots on your resume. Thats not their job. Its up to the candidate to try and fill in any holes in their own resume.The Proof Is in the DetailsMy friend went back and filled in all the gaps on her resume by including thereasons why she separated from each company. Within in the first few days of using this updated resume,she began getting interviews and job offers worthy of her experience and talent. Within a month, s he was hired by a leading specialty building material supplier.My frienddidnt change anything about her fragmented work history. All she did was add a little explanation. This had the tremendous benefit of helping hiring managers especially those that lived through the difficult economic times understandwhy her resume looked the way it did.Are You Explanations Satisfactory?There are many satisfactory explanations for short job tenures they just need to be noted for busy hiring managers to quickly and easily see them. Theshaky economy of the last few years has increased the number of downsizings, closings, and mergers, all of which have resulted in many layoffs.Similarly, some positions are, by nature, contract- and project-oriented. ansicht roles will result in job changes every six months or so, but not because you are an unsteady or troubled employee.Furthermore, there are also those younger adults whohave been working internships to try and gain experiencein various careers.In todays new economy, there are also those part-time and stopgap positions that employeesneed to bridge the gap between permanent, full-time positions.Just remember that having multiple short-tenured positions is not the kiss of death if you take the time to provide a short explanation for your limited tenure, that is. It need be no more than a few words under the job title, such as contract position, internship, temporary work, layoff, or whatever the situation was.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. Were SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career.

Top 3 Phone Interview Fails {+ What To Do Instead}

Top 3 Phone einstellungsgesprch Fails + What To Do InsteadTop 3 Phone Interview Fails + What To Do InsteadIm moving from consulting to seeking work for a regular employer full-time. Im also considering relocation from the East Coast to the West Coast. I have found it hard to hear back from anybody when I apply to jobs, but luckily I have a phone interview on Monday. I dont want to blow it. What should my best approach be?It would be a beautiful day in the neighborhood every day of the week if your job search were a smooth path from the 1st application to youre hired. But nearly every candidate faces some roadblocks ageism, no degree, resume gap, or, like the candidate above, relocation. Overcoming these things to get a call back is only step 1. Lets talk about step 2 the phone interview, and how to avoid the top 3 fails so you can build momentum from here.Phone Interview Fail 1 You Were Busy But You Pretended Not To BeJob search mode is the only time you race to answer every call tha t comes in. Eagerness is natural. After all, getting that response is the goal, right? But dont make the big blunder of answering a number you dont recognize when youre in the middle of doing something else, just because youre hoping a decision maker is on the other end.Think about it youre out to an early dinner. The phone rings. You answer and youre in a noisy area. You may need to ask the person to speak up. Then you need to take the time to walk to a quiet area. Guess what? Its never as quiet as you hoped it would be. In the bathroom, someones flushing the toilet. In the lobby, the doors opening and closing all the time. On the sidewalk, everyones car is driving by.While all thats happening, you barely remember what version of the resume you sent to this particular employer. You certainly dont have it in front of you. You cant recall the notes you took down when you researched the company. In short, whatever you manage to piece together and say is going to be disjointed, haphaza rd, and not the presentation of yourself that you envisioned giving the decision maker.Answer, Then DeclineIf you can clamp down on your need to answer every call in the 1st place, just do so. Check your voice mails when you get to them. But if you do pick up and find the recruiter speaking to you, express gratitude, politeness, and then excuse yourself. Heres what that can sound likeOh Im so glad you called. Listen, Im walking into another meeting at this precise moment. I need to return your call. Will tomorrow at 10 work on your end? Case closed. Just because a recruiter wants to speak to you that very second doesnt mean you have to drop everything and do so, particularly when its inconvenient for you. Youre allowed to not participate in the exchange right then and there. The opportunity is not going to get sucked away between now and 10 am tomorrow. Call them back at the appointed time when you have your resume and your notes in front of you, so you can present yourself like the professional you are.Phone Interview Fail 2 You Made The Priorities Yours Not TheirsA job search meme circulating the Internet says, Why should we hire you? And the candidates response, Because you need help and I can do it, so Honest. Obvious. Funny. And it highlights our 1st instinct towards the gut answer, even though in virtually all job search scenarios, youre supposed to go with the answer that serves THEM, not you. Its like a 1st date. If you dont show any interest in the other person, the other persons not going to be particularly interested in seeing you again.The person who posed the question at the top of this post is looking to relocate. But the phone interview is not the moment to ask about relocation benefits. That may be in your gut, and its definitely YOUR priority. But first, demonstrate that you can do the job thats a lot closer to what the employer needs to hear, without becoming immediately concerned about geography.Serve Others FirstDo your homework beforehan d. Please do not call up the about us and company history pages, where all the language you think is unique to put in your cover letter actually goes to die. Demonstrate what you know about the organization by tuning in to social media and Google News, so you can understand what the companys working on right now weave that into your phone interview conversation.Phone Interview Fail 3 On the Phone Does Not Equal On the FlyYou know what they say about 1st impressions right? This is your golden opportunity to make a good one. You have so many more things under your control at a phone interview than an in-person interview, so take advantage of thisSpread out in your home office or dining room, where you have a big table. Have your resume in front of you. Have the job description in front of you. Literally, physically draw big red arrows pointing from the top 3 qualifications in the ad to the corresponding points in your resume.Pre-package your answers to, Tell me about yourself, Whats your greatest strength? and Whats your greatest weakness. These are the questions youre virtually guaranteed will come up. Make bullet points or write them on 35 cards. Similarly, have the questions ready that you want to ask. Keep this all right there at arms length so you can get to it easily.Making it to the interview doesnt have to be so hard. And making your interview shine needs to be your next objective. Find out exactly how successful candidates go from phone interview, to in-person interview, to offer, week in and week out. Thats in our free job search training right here.

Satisfaction at work is by far the #1 thing that makes men happy

Satisfaction at work is by far the 1 thing that makes men happySatisfaction at work is by far the 1 thing that makes men happyA new study of 5,000 American men found that the 1 factor that makes men happy is being satisfied at work ranking far above health and income.The study was sponsored by the mens grooming company, Harrys, in partnership with Dr. John Barry of University College London, with the aim of identifying the values and priorities of American men, as well as the contributors to their emotional, physical and mental health, and general wellbeing in short, their happiness. The men ranged from 18-95 and lived all over the country.The values American men most desire, the study says in its introduction, are those of everyday heroes fathers, father figures, respectful co-workers, mentors. There are hardworking, loving, friendly men with a conscience These gentle, Christ-like values, combined with the existence of a conscience, it is explained, is great news for the men, wo men, and children in America.But really, its good for jobs, and vice-versa. Onto the data.The strongest indicator of a positive mindset in men is being satisfied with their work its three times higher than the next-strongest indicatorThe positive mindset index used in the study included feeling more optimistic, happy, motivated, emotionally stable, confident, with a sense of control. Therefore, the more fulfillment at work that men felt, the more they felt those emotions.94% of men with the highest job satisfaction rating had normal or better levels of mental positivity compared to 49% who gave the lowest rating for job satisfaction.After work gratification, the things next-strongest indicators of a positive mindset weretheir healthincomeage men get happier as they get olderbeing marriedsports and leisureThe top event that made this group of men satisfied at work wasnt income it was making a difference Engagement matters.Pop quiz Whos the happiest man in America? According to the study, its married men over 50 who have found fulfillment in their job, have a good income, and take care of their health. But if youre a man and you can only pick one, strive for happiness in your job thatll get you most of the way there.

Vital Pieces of Resume Exaamples

Vital Pieces of Resume Exaamples Resume Exaamples Secrets Examine the competition and take a look at the organization that you want to work for. Knowing your career objective would permit you to create the correct content for your resume. Record any other skills you may have. Other skills which have been learnt can be mentioned. Studying career-specific resume samples is among the best strategies to comprehend exactly how exactly to format and concentration on your talents and techniques. No 2 resumes ought to be alike. Thirdly, everyone can copy a format. Have a look at free resume examples on the internet and you will observe that headings ought to be the exact same all throughout. Resume are simple to craft and can be readily copied and adapted to your specific circumstance. Job search has gotten particularly carnival-like, especially five decades ago as soon as the economy hit the skids. Once you have followed the aforementioned steps where the web is concerned, you wa nt to broaden your search. It can be difficult to obtain work in the present market. You should be doing the things which will help grow your small business. When there is one main rule to remember as you write your resume, its that each of the content ought to be written to be employer-centered. Therefore, if you walk into the job-interview knowing a good deal about the organization you wont just impress them but it is going to surly make you seem more relaxed and confident. There are five common cover letter mistakes outlined below that you have to avoid in order to acquire through the very first round of resume review and move 1 step closer to getting the job which you would like. If you pick one template and produce no changes whatsoever, you dramatically boost the likelihood of looking like everybody else. When you wish to locate a job, you must be sure you have the correct skills for the positions in which youre interested. With the economy the way its, we are all aware that even applying for jobs isnt quick. The job isnt uncomplicated but its extremely gratifying. Youre therefore ready for the very first job for a phelbotomist So here are a few tips about how you could make the right resume for the job of secretary. It is simpler than you might think to compose a superb administrative resume that could let you find the job of your dreams. To work, your statement must tell a possible employer you know what sort of job that you want, what experience youve got as a way to find the position, and what exactly you are willing do to be a prosperous professional with the business. The career objective statement has to be written exclusively for the job which you are applying to. Resumes are made to highlight the very best side of an individual. Change career resume examples demonstrate that you should begin with personal info. Resume writing doesnt have to be hard.

Exclusive Invite To Audibles One

Exclusive Invite To Audibles OneAudible is partenering with PowerToFly to host an invite-only evening at Grace Hopper in Houston to stand out from the rest of the packWere going to introduce games into our networking event so you can amplify your time connecting with leaders Audible and your peers over some delicious food and drinks. Dont miss thisRegister for the event HERE and email brinleypowertofly.com for the event password (if you dont have it already). The event will take place at The Houston, located at 3118 Harrisburg Blvd, Houston. The evening will begin at 5pm and will wrap up at 9pm. Join us for any part of that time. Please note, you do not need a Grace Hopper Celebration badge to attend.This is a great event for SDE II, back end, full stack with Java, front end with advanced Java and mobile engineers for both IOS and Android as well as technical program managers and software development managers.Although this is a networking event and you dont have to be looking for a j ob to attend, Audible is hiring. Check out their page on PowerToFly to see all of their open roles.About our Events All RSVPd attendees are welcome, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, or age. If you require accommodation to fully participate in this event, please email hipowertofly.com, and we will contact you to discuss your specific needs.Unfortunately, PowerToFly and the company it is holding an event on behalf of cannot admit outside recruiters to this particular event. Please email hipowertofly.com if you have any questions about this policy.About Audible A truly global company, Audibles worldwide community downloads almost two billion hours of materie annually. Along with their world headquarters in Newark, Audible has offices all over the world including London, Paris and Tokyo. Their competitive benefits include employer-matching savings accounts, stock options, a full stocked kitchen, fitness reim bursements and Amazon discounts. Aki Merced

Study finds that very unattractive people make more money

Study finds that very unattractive people make mora moneyStudy finds that very unattractive people make more moneyIn Amy Schumers new film I Feel Pretty she plays a woman, Renee, who struggles with low self-confidence and views herself as unattractive.It doesnt help that she works for a cosmetics brand that seems to only employ models. About 20 minutes into the film after wishing to be better looking at a fountain (do those things still work in the wish-delivering department?) she hits her head during spin class the next day and awakes to believe she looks completely different and is absolutely and imperatively attractive (she looks exactly the same.) Well jokes on you Renee because it turns out people who are deemed very unattractive end up making more money at a younger age, according to a recent study.A study from theJournal of Business and Psychologyof 20,000 young Americans, interviewed the subjects at home at age 16 and then three more times before they turned 29-years-old. The researchers looked atthe correlation between attractiveness and income of the participants based on a five-point scale of physical attractiveness from very unattractive to very attractive.The ugliness premiumNow attractive people are still winning at life as overall there was a positive association between attractiveness and earnings. This is also known as the beauty premium and ugliness penalty and has beendocumentedwidely by economists. However, those rated as very unattractivealso saw a positive correlation when it came to money. The VUs (who only made up 1 to 2% of the survey sample) were found to always earn more than the just regular unattractive people and sometimes even more than just average-looking people and even the attractive people. This is turning previous research on its head as this demonstrates an ugliness premium.Ladders is now on SmartNewsDownload the SmartNews app and add the Ladders channel to read the latest career news and advice wherever you go.The research ers,Satoshi Kanazawa and Mary Still, believe that the reason attractive people earn more is not just because of their looks but what their looks signify. Physically more attractive workers may earn more, not necessarily because they are more beautiful, but because they are healthier, more intelligent, and have better personality traits conducive to higher earnings, such as being more Conscientious, more Extraverted, and less Neurotic, Kanazawa said in a press release. The very unattractive people also tested higherin those three categories which contributes to their earnings bump.However, the very unattractive group was quite small which also can throw off results, Daniel Hamermesh, a professor of economics at the Royal Holloway University of London, told CBS News.It looks like Snow White will still get the higher salary over the ugly witch in the woods, but she better watch her back. That witch has got personality.and poisoned apples.

Study confirms Cat people are more enthusiastic than dog people

Study confirms Cat people are more enthusiastic than dog peopleStudy confirms Cat people are more enthusiastic than dog peopleI welches only a cat person for about 17 years. After Hairy Pawter passed away, I decided to fully commit to becoming a productive member of society. Forty-seven percent of U.S households have cats, and 60% have dogs. Last year, these pet owners dished out a collective $72 billion on their animals, which is an 8.1% increase from 2016. Americans love animals. Thirty-five percent of the US pet owners surveyed in Rover.coms new report said that their animals needs informed what kind of furniture they purchased, 29% said that it affected the kind of motor vehicle they bought, and 29% said that having animals impacted the kind of apartment or home they rented.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreCat people vs. dog peopleClearly, the majority of the pet owners surve yed did not take the role lightly. Seventy percent of both dog people and cat people give theirpets nicknames, 61% of both let theiranimals take over the bed and couch, the average amount of cuddle time a day was one to two hours for both. EIghty-four percent of cat lovers and dog lovers said that pictures of their respective animals take up half of the photo space on their phones, and the vast majority said that when they enter the house from work they say hello to their pets before family members. But of the two kinds surveyed, which were the more enthusiastic? Cat people. By a lot.It is true that, on balance. dog people talk to their animals a lot more than cat people do, (on average cat people talked to their felines one to five times a day, the average chat-time reported by dog owners? Too many time to count) but the reason cat people, dont talk to their cats as often as dog people is because they sing to them instead. Seventy percent more cat owners than dog owners reported do ing so Making up new songs all the time or singing to their pet at least sometimes.Cat people are also 16% more likely to get ticked off if they see their pet cuddling up with someone other than themselves. Ninety-one percent of cat owners claimed to be able to interpret their cats individual meows. Fifty-two percent of cat fanatics preferto spend time with their animals rather than humans, which is 9% percent more than the dog owner respondents that agreed.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will ersatzdarsteller your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How a Jenga-playing Robot Will Affect Manufacturing

How a Jenga-playing Robot Will Affect Manufacturing How a Jenga-playing Robot Will Affect Manufacturing How a Jenga-playing Robot Will Affect Manufacturing Humans are born with intuitive abilities to manipulate physical objects, honing and perfecting their skills from an early age through play and practice. But its not as easy for robots.Computers may have beaten the best human players of abstract, cognitive-based games such as chess and Go, but the physical abilities and intuitive perceptions acquired over millions of years of evolution still give humans a definite edge in tactile perception and the volksverdummung of real-world objects.That human-machine skill gap makes it difficult to develop machine learning, or ML, algorithms for physical tasks that require not just visual information, but tactile data. A team of researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has taken a fresh approach to that aufgabe by teaching a robot to p lay Jenga. Their work was published in Science Robotics.Read mora on Engineers Teaching Machines Game Theory Helps Robot DesignJenga involves building a layered tower by carefully moving rectangular blocks from lower layers to the top, without collapsing the tower. That requires careful consideration of which blocks to move and which to leave in place, a choice thats not always apparent. The robots interpretation of the game. Image MITIn the game of Jenga, a lot of the information that is necessary to drive the motion of the robot isnt apparent to the eyes, in visual information, noted the studys co-author Alberto Rodriguez. You cannot point a camera at the tower and tell which blocks are free to move or which blocks are blocked. The robot has to go and touch them.The researchers overcame that physical element of the game by providing a means for the robot to integrate both visual and tactile cues.The experimental setup consisted of an off-the-shelf ABB IRB 120 roboti c arm fitted with an ATI Gamma force and torque sensor at the wrist and an Intel RealSense D415 camera, along with a custom-built gripper.Our system feels the pieces as it pushes against them, said Nima Fazeli, an MIT graduate student and the papers lead author. It integrates this information with its visual sensing to produce hypotheses as to the type of block interaction, block configurations, and then decides what actions to take.Listen to the latest episode of ASME TechCast Breakthrough Could Bring New Cancer TreatmentMost modern ML algorithms begin by defining a problem as the world is like this, what should be my next move? Rodriguez said. A typical strategy would be to simulate every possible outcome of how the robot might interact with every Jenga block and the tower, a bottom-up approach. But this would be both time-consuming and data intensive, requiring enormous computational power.Playing Jenga is a real-world physical task in which every possible move can have various o utcomes. Its very difficult to come up with a simulator version that can be used to train a machine-learning algorithm, Rodriguez said. Training the algorithm is even more complicated by the fact that every time the robot makes a wrong move and the tower collapses a human being has to rebuild the structure before the robot can try again.Instead, MIT engineers decided on a top-down learning methodology that would more closely simulate the human learning process. The intent is to build systems that are able to make useful abstractions (top-down) that they can use to learn manipulation skills quickly, Fazeli said. In this approach, the robot learns about the physics and mechanics of the interaction between the robot and the tower.Read about another Robotic Invention The Rise from BattleBot to Corporate RobotRather than going through thousands of possibilities, Fazeli and his colleagues trained the robot on about 300, then grouped similar outcomes and measurements into clusters that the ML algorithm could then use to model and predict future moves.The AI builds useful abstractions without being told what those abstractions are, i.e., it learns that different types of blocks that are stuck or free exist, Fazeli said. It uses this information to plan and control its interactions. This approach is powerful because we can change the goal of the robot and it can keep using the same model. For example, we can ask that it identify all blocks that dont move, and it can just do that without needing to retrain. It is also data-efficient thanks to its representation that allows for abstractions.By using the visual and tactile information collected through its camera and force sensor, the robot is thus able to learn from experience and plan future actions.While the system wont be challenging human Jenga champs anytime soon, the top-down ML approach demonstrated in this work may have a more significant impact.Were looking toward industrial automation where we hope to have flex ible robotic systems that can quickly acquire novel manipulation skills and behave reactively to their mistakes, Fazeli said. Modern day assembly lines change rapidly to align with consumer interests so we need systems that can keep up.Mark Wolverton is an independent writer.Read Latest Exclusive Stories from ASME.orgYoung Engineer Takes Great Strides with Prosthetic FootVR and Drone Technology in a Paper AirplaneFive Job Interview Questions Young Engineers Can ExpectIts almost certainly cheaper to capture carbon emissions from their sourceor never emit them in the first place.Matt Lucas, Carbon180