DeepDribble: Simulating Basketball with AI

When training physically simulated characters basketball skills, these competing talents must also be held in balance. While AAA game titles like EA's NBA LIVE and NBA 2K have made drastic improvements to their graphics and character animation, basketball video games still rely heavily on canned animations. The industry is always looking for new methods for creating gripping, on-court action in a more personalized, interactive way. In a recent paper by DeepMotion Chief Scientist, Libin Liu, and Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jessica Hodgins, virtual agents are trained to simulate a range of complex ball handling skills in real time. This blog gives an overview of their work and results, which will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2018.