Playing checkers seems like a well-defined task to accomplish. A computer that has "the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility." is not defined at all. Mobility? Perceiving what?
Perception is about distinguishing, imagining physical properties (this can be disassembled or just casually appears composite due to perspective), judging and guessing at unseen properties. I figure an pool ball has a curved 3d spherical shape, because I've seen one before and felt it. At the same time I imagine that there is no "top" or differing feature anywhere on the ball, based on the appearance of what portion I can see (it looks clear and flat white? i expect the rest to be so).
Moravec's paradox, though it now seems obvious, was the opposite of the prevailing view.
It implies that if 'being in the world' (mobility, perception & grasping) are the hard tasks then this is where AI will emerge not in simulation, planning or board games.