The 80s, for instance, brought exciting breakthroughs in learning by demonstration, but a slew of research projects out of schools like CMU, MIT and UC Berkeley point to a future in which robots learn much like their human counterparts. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt's Hardware Stage, the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is showcasing advancements in research that can teach a robot a new skill quite literally overnight. “It’s remarkable how fast it works," says TRI CEO and Chief Scientist Gill Pratt.