Scientists have trained an inanimate lump of goo to play the video game Pong.
After some trials, the goo got about 10 percent better at playing Pong.
The goal of all this is to learn more about how biological neural networks (BNNs) work.
Screenshot of Pong.© Grenar via Shutterstock.
The paper noted that ANNs are limited by their hardware.
For their experiment, the scientists used an ionic electroactive polymer hydrogel.
Its basically a water-based goo full of ions that make it reactive to electricity.
They put the goo in a tray and covered it in electrodes.
One set of electrodes prodded the goo with stimulation while the other side recorded how it moved.
Human brains are, of course, infinitely more complex than a petri dish of electric goo.
Biological neural networks are a model of human cognition, not a complete explanation of it.
Still, the scientists were able to get the goo to remember how to play Pong.
To construct this closed loop and quantify the effect of memory, a suitable activity is required.
The computer ran Pong and translated the signals into an electric current it fed into the goo.
The goo then reacted to the stimuli and communicated the movements of the Pong paddle back to the computer.
The pong game was simplifiedscientists divided the game field into nine quadrants and communicated the balls position within them.
The goo could move its paddle up and down three quadrants along the side of the play space.
As the experiment ran, the goo got slightly better at playing Pong.
This was a very simple experiment and were in the early days of making goo play Pong.
How could they improve the results?
Start punishing the goo.
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