This Robot Will Destroy You ... On Jeopardy

IBM is designing a robot that can process and understand natural language and answer complex questions with unprecedented precision and speed. The goal? To kick some ass at Jeopardy, of course! 

Code-named Watson, after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, the robot's computer processing power is designed to rival that of the smartest humans on TV. In fact, Watson will take on Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a February face-off.

And for Watson, it's not just a matter of being quick with the buzzer, as IBM explains:

This challenge is much more than a game. Jeopardy demands knowledge of a broad range of topics, including literature, politics, film, pop culture and science, [as well as] irony, riddles, analyzing subtle meaning and other complexities at which humans excel and computers traditionally do not. 

Watson is programmed to understand the actual meaning behind words, distinguish between relevant and irrelevant content and confidently deliver precise final answers. For more on the February Jeopardy challenge, visit IBM's research page.