Artificial intelligence needs smart senses to be useful

True intelligence, Meghan Rosen notes in this issue’s cover story “Robot awakening” (SN: 11/12/16, p. 18), lies in the body as well as the brain. And building machines with the physical intelligence that even the clumsiest human takes for granted — the ability to sense, respond to and move through the world — has long been a stumbling block for artificial intelligence research.