Re: Solving the cube not so important
If it takes the equivilent of 10,000 years to 'train' this robot to a 20% success then it's slow machine learning not AI. Having said that, if it can be improved to the point where retasking to any other 'one-hand problem' reaches a similar level success within a few weeks then we're well on the way to a general purpose robot that will render the need for human manual interaction with any environment optional.
As the only useful purpose of a robot hand is to manipulate the items we've designed to be used by hands (quite literally, everything) I see these robots main use in and around the home, "Robot, Make me a cup of tea, butter some scones then mow the lawn and prune the roses" or more likely "Help me out of bed, help me in/out of my stairlift, give me my medication..."
Everything outside the home environment will be better served by custom built designs as is happening now.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
