https://phys.org/news/2019-01-algorithm-robots-instinctive-tools.html

Previous research by Ganesh has indicated that the human brain recognizes a limb not just by its physical features, but by its functionality. Building on this insight, Ganesh and the A*STAR team proposed that a robot can recognize the potential of a tool by comparing its shape with that of its own hand and arm when used to achieve this same task. They wrote an algorithm based on this idea and tested it by setting a robot the task of moving, without grasping, a disk to a desired end point on a table. This involved the robot either pulling the disk toward itself, pushing it away, or shifting it sideways.

"The robot is programmed with the ability to complete the task by itself, represented by a hand shape template," explains Tee. "When the task cannot be completed, because its arms aren't long enough for example, the robot is able to recognize a viable tool by matching the tool shape with the hand shape template."