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World’s Largest Optical Lens
bremnet says...Can't wait for the segment on "How It's Made". I'm going to drop them a line...
Halloween Just Got Better
bremnet says...What does a '78 Gremlin go for anyway? (if it's for Hallowe'en, I was hoping the entire box could be lifted by a real dude - or dudette - inside and walked down the street to the next Trickortreatorium.
Excellent. I bet that only cost about twice what my car cost. Was anyone else hoping the door would start to open at the end, with lots of steam/smoke and banging?
*promote
Multi-Agent Hide and Seek
bremnet says...Thanks for the link and the education, truly appreciated. I'm still stuck on "there has to be more to it" ... but I guess after 85 million games, the outcome is bound to be a winner. Same philosophy I have for the Leafs winning the Cup.
This isn't really true though and greatly understates how amazing this demo, and current AI actually is.
Saying the agents are obeying a set of human defined rules / freedoms / constraints and objective functions would lead one to imagine something more like video game AI.
Typically video game AI works on a set of weighted decisions and actions, where the weights, decisions and actions are defined by the developer; a more complex variation of:
if my health is low, move towards the health pack,
otherwise, move towards the opponent
In this demo, no such rules exist. It's not given any weights (health), rules (if health is low), nor any instructions (move towards health pack). I guess you could apply neural networks to traditional game AI to determine the weights for decision making (which are typically hard coded by the developer); but that would be far less interesting than what's actually happening here.
Instead, the agent is given a set of inputs, a set of available outputs, and a goal.
4 Inputs:
- Position of the agent itself
- Position and type (other agent, box, ramp) of objects within a limited forward facing conical view
- Position (but not type) of objects within a small radius around the agent
- Reward: Whether they are doing a good job or not
Note the agent is given no information about each type of object, or what they mean, or how they behave. You may as well call them A, B, C rather than agent, box, ramp.
3 Outputs:
- Move
- Grab
- Lock
Again, the agent knows nothing about what these mean, only that they can enable and disable each at any time. A good analogy is someone giving you a game controller for a game you've never played. The controller has a stick and two buttons and you figure out what they do by using them. It'd be accurate to call the outputs: stick, A, B rather than move, grab, lock.
Goal:
- Do a good job.
The goal is simply for the reward input to be maximised. A good analogy is saying 'good girl' or giving a treat to a dog that you are training when they do the right thing. It's up to the dog to figure out what it is that they're doing that's good.
The reward is entirely separate from the agent, and agent behaviour can be completely changed just by changing when the reward is given. The demo is about hide and seek, where the agents are rewarded for not being seen / seeing their opponent (and not leaving the play area). The agents also succeeded at other games, where the only difference to the agent was when the reward was given.
It isn't really different from physically building the same play space, dropping some rats in it, and rewarding them with cheese when they are hidden from their opponents - except rats are unlikely to figure out how to maximise their reward in such a 'complex' game.
Given this description of how the AI actually works, the fact they came up with complex strategies like blocking doors, ramp surfing, taking the ramp to stop their opponents from ramp surfing, and just the general cooperation with other agents, without any code describing any of those things - is pretty amazing.
You can find out more about how the agents were trained, and other exercises they performed here:
https://openai.com/blog/emergent-tool-use/
Multi-Agent Hide and Seek
bremnet says...Another entrant in the incredibly long line of adaptation / adaptive learning / intelligent systems / artificial intelligence demonstrations that aren't. The agents act based on a set of rules / freedoms/constraints prescribed by a human. The agents "learn" based on the objective functions defined by the human. With enough iterations (how many times did the narrator say "millions" in the video) . Sure, it is a good demonstration of how adaptive learning works, but the hype-fog is getting a big thick and sickening folks. This is a very complex optimization problem being solved with impressive and current technologies, but it is certainly not behavioural intelligence.
Viking Fingerprint Trigger Lock Picked FAST
bremnet says...The reason I'd use a biometric vs a keyed trigger lock is for speed and ease of use in the dark. If I have to give it a little squeeze to get it to release, zero concern. Does it secure the firearm? Yes. Is it 100%, no. Show me one that is.
p.s. in a random sampling, the twenty-three 15 year old boys in my algebra class, none of them own or plan to buy a flat piece of bent metal that precisely fits in a lock of this type, let along lock picking tools. The determination that this lock is no good is based on tests that have little to do with the intended function.
Bugatti hits 304.77mph in a Chiron | Top Gear
bremnet says...Gumball! Gumball! Gumball!
Cecil the sheep is quite the jerk
bremnet jokingly says...And there it is, the undying stereotype - for decades, perhaps centuries, even in these modern times of equality and respect for all, when a fella takes one in the junk, girls giggle while he collapses to the ground.
Rhino Flips Out
bremnet says...If you dress up your car like a zebra, you should expect to be rolled by a rhino. Mortal enemies, don't ya know. You've never seen a Chevy Impala in the lion pen have you?
Teleoperation Of RC Car Using Wraparound Screen
bremnet says...Anybody want to buy a used Vive?
Mother and Son Witness Tornado Touching Down
bremnet says...I've been in every type of winter storm you can name (from Canada eh!), sandstorms in Saudi, monsoons in Thailand, typhoons in the Philippines, several wet seasons in northern Australia, and a fair few hurricanes here in Texas. But tornadoes - the tricky unpredictable bastards that you can't predict, plan for or gear up for, Mother Nature's switch blade, are the only things out there that freak me out.
"Holy shit, this is crazy" is the right response.
Now we can even bowl from the couch
bremnet says...Oops. Sorry folks... didn't dig enough for the origin. Thanks Crushbug. Kind of wondered about the how much force would be required to hold the ball at that rpm, but fell for it.
spoileralert
It's like Liquid Nitrogen - but Fire!
bremnet says...No courage. Do liquid oxygen + methane (same method) and then we'll talk. P.s. 293 million tonnes of liquid methane (mostly) were produced in 2018, as LNG.
Michelin Introduce Puncture Proof Airless Tire
bremnet says...Yes, yes and no so much anymore. The delamination / damage from bumps and potholes have been pretty much resolved in the Michelin and Bridgestone designs (according to Michelin and Bridgestone - ahem...) Haven't seen any reports on whether running temps are worse lately, but hard to make the comparison (the #1 root cause of tire failure today is under-inflation so tires running hotter than design). Now with 10 or more of the big boys in the hunt for the best airless design, will be an interesting ride. The concept out of SciTech Industries in Florida is neato, but they are a (relatively) smaller startup, so might get lost in the scramble, though producing a lighter tire with less heat build (quite a different concept compared to Michelin). cheers
Nice. I think, from what I recall, the engineering challenges are heat build up, weight (more than a regular tire), and bump absorption.
Rambo-Last Blood
bremnet says...You just know Culkin is going to see this and do another Home Alone. Now THAT'S Hollywood.
Green New Deal: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
bremnet says...ChaosEngine + BSR - you guys crack me up, this one's going in the archives. Funny lads - Cheers*
*with honey mead of course, none of that hops and barley stuff. I mean, only if the bees can hold it together for few more months, 'cause it's either them or the frogs going first.