Robots performing tasks according to a predetermined set of instructions are nothing new.But robots able to learn how to cook by watching videos are a completely different approach , which is conducted by a group of researchers at the University of Maryland. If you have posted a video of your favorite recipe on the popular website YouTube , chances are that it will be used by a robot.University of Maryland’s professor Yiannis Aloimonos , leader of the group , said “There exists a large amount of video information on the Internet that our robots can capitalize _ on .” “At present , the videos are fed electronically , ” said research scientist Cornelia Fermuller.“Originally , we took our own videos , our cameras looking at us doing the cooking , ”she explained.“And , as the robot advances , it reacts to good quality videos.And it will react to even lower quality home­made videos.” So far , the robot named Julia can make a simple salad by breaking each task into basic parts , such as grasping a spoon , bringing it to the bowl , stirring the salad and observing the results. But why teach a robot how to understand a video when it can easily follow a fixed program ? Aloimonos believes predetermined instructions lack flexibility.He thinks one of the problems is how to make the robot understand and use what it learns during a certain task , the so­called feedback ( 反馈意见 ) ; another is the introduction of language. “I believe it will take quite some time before the robots are able to understand metaphorical ( 比喻性的 ) language , ” he added.“But , ” he said , “we don’t need that to create a new world where the robots will be working for us.”