- Researchers use recurrent neural networks to develop a new physically engaging game.
- The network analyzed thousands of games and created ideas from every aspect of the new, unique sport, including its rules and logo.
At RankRed, we write about artificial intelligence all the time, whether the technology is being adopted in self-driving cars, electronic devices, natural language processing or recognizing/editing videos. But this time researchers have done something different: they used AI to invent a new sport.
Developers from AKQA (a private digital agency formed in 1994) used machine learning techniques to develop a fun game named Speedgate. It’s the world’s first sport imagined by AI and proven by humans.
Speedgate is a fun and physical game that heavily relies on teamwork and passing ball to score and win. It’s easy to play, accessible to all, and gives players a great workout.
Training The Neural Networks
To create an easy-to-learn and physically engaging game, the team trained a deep convolutional generative adversarial network and a recurrent neural network (a form of artificial neural network with feedback loop) on more than 400 sports, over 7,300 sport rules, and 10,000 brand images.
They used NVIDIA Tesla GPUs to train their neural networks and inference. The network was capable of creating ideas for every aspect of this new sport, from the gameplay and rules to the logo.
The network came up with several official Speedgate logos. Developers looked through those and took inspiration from them in terms of the logo’s shape and color scheme. It is a perfect example of going beyond the traditional text-focused style.
Source: PlaySpeedgate.org
Developers also admitted that GPU technology allowed them to achieve a large number of unique machine learning contributions in less time and yielded the best final outcome.
The Final Sport
They analyzed over 1,000 outcomes and narrowed down to 10 potential ideas, out of which 3 were tested on the field. Most sports had compelling description, such as exploding Frisbee game and underwater parkour. One of them involved passing a ball back-&-forth while standing on a tightrope in a hot air balloon.
Finally, they chose Speedgate which is unique in every way: it combines familiar elements of rugby, croquet, and soccer.
Speedgate field
The rules are simple: each team has 6 players who can pass or kick the ball into a center or end gates of the field. They can’t cross the circle in the center of the field, and the ball should be moving every 3 seconds.
Players score 2 points by kicking the ball through the gates from either direction and 3 points if teammates catch the scoring ball and immediately kick it back through again.
Read: AI-Based Robot Learns To Play A Game Of Jenga
If you are interested in playing, the company has published the rules of Speedgate along with instructions on how you can start your own league.
