Bioengineers Develop Hydrogel ‘Brain’ That Learned to Be a Pong Master
Biomedical engineers have developed what they say is an artificial intelligence built from a simple polymer hydrogel and electrode array. They have trained it to be better at playing pong, but the possibilities of such a device could be much wilder.
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00:00This is a brain, but what if I told you this, was also a brain.
00:08Biomedical engineers have developed what they say is an artificial intelligence, built from
00:12a simple polymer hydrogel and electrode array.
00:15And they have trained it, to be better at playing Pong.
00:18Teaching an AI to play video games is no big breakthrough, however its developers say this
00:22is a proof of concept, for developing human-like brains out of simple components.
00:27With bioengineer Yoshikatsu Hayashi saying about it, quote, our research shows that
00:31even very simple materials can exhibit complex, adaptive behaviors, typically associated with
00:36living systems or sophisticated AI.
00:39Adding that this could open up the possibility of developing new types of smart materials,
00:43that can learn and adapt to their environment.
00:45That's because the hydrogel used in this experiment is electroactive, meaning the polymer can
00:50change its shape or size, when an electric current runs through it.
00:53You can think of it as a sort of artificial muscle, one that builds an emergent memory,
00:57retaining cumulative skills with regards to its own movement.
01:00And when trained in a simple task like playing Pong, they say this robo-brain became a master
01:05in just 20 minutes.