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Computing

Watch a Robot AI Beat World-Class Curling Competitors

  * By Gary Stix, Jeffery DelViscio on September 23, 2020
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Artificial intelligence still needs to bridge the "sim-to-real"
gap. Deep-learning techniques that are all the rage in AI log
superlative performances in mastering cerebral games, including chess
and Go, both of which can be played on a computer. But translating
simulations to the physical world remains a bigger challenge.

A robot named Curly that uses "deep reinforcement learning"--making
improvements as it corrects its own errors--came out on top in three
of four games against top-ranked human opponents from South Korean
teams that included a women's team and a reserve squad for the
national wheelchair team. (No brooms were used).

One crucial finding was that the AI system demonstrated its ability
to adapt to changing ice conditions. "These results indicate that the
gap between physics-based simulators and the real world can be
narrowed," the joint South Korean-German research team wrote in
Science Robotics on September 23. 

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