A sticky gel created by scientists can play the video game Pong and get better over time as it learns, new research shows.
The experts claim that the demonstrated “muscle memory” could be useful for the development of artificial intelligence.
Inspired by a study that used brain cells in a bowl to play pong, the team at Reading University decided to play the “tennis-like” game using a simple water-based gel.
The soft, flexible material contained charged ions that respond to electricity. When electricity was passed through the gel, the ions moved toward the power source, pulling water with them and causing the gel to swell.
It was connected to electrodes that mimicked the classic Pong board, dividing it into six rectangles with walls around the edges.
Developed in the 1970s, Pong was one of the first video games ever. The goal is to pass a ball back and forth between two paddles and maintain a rally.
The scientists passed a small voltage to the hydrogel at the point where the ball hit the wall and measured where the ions collected.
The computer interpreted this as an instruction as to where to move the bat.
Over time, the charged ions accumulated more effectively where the ball hit, improving accuracy by up to 10% and increasing the length of rallies.
Muscle memory
Signs of swelling remained in the gel and acted as a kind of memory, the team said.
The scientists do not claim that the gel is sentient, but the “muscle memory” demonstrated could be useful for the development of artificial intelligence.
The gel was placed between two plates covered with electrodes. Image: University of Reading
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“Instead of just knowing what happened immediately, it has a memory of the ball’s movement throughout the game,” robotics engineer Vincent Strong of the University of Reading told New Scientist magazine.
“It sort of gains an experience with the general motion of the ball, not just its current position. It becomes a kind of black box neural network that has a memory of the behavior of the ball, how it behaves and how it moves.”
Dr Yoshikatsu Hayashi, a biomedical engineer at the University of Reading who led the research, said: “Our research shows that even very simple materials can exhibit complex, adaptive behaviours that are normally associated with living systems or highly evolved artificial intelligence.”
Most AI algorithms are inspired by the complex workings of the human brain. However, according to the researchers, hydrogels represent a different kind of “intelligence” that could be used to develop new, simpler algorithms.
“Ionic hydrogels can achieve the same type of memory mechanism as more complex neural networks,” said Strong.
In the future, researchers plan to further explore the hydrogel’s “memory” by studying the mechanisms behind its memory and testing its ability to perform other tasks.
