Researchers teach an AI how to dribble

While this animated fellow looks like something out of NBA 2K18, it's really an AI that's learning how to dribble in real time. The AI starts out fumbling the ball a bit and by cycle 95 it is able to do some real Harlem Globetrotters stuff. In short, what you're watching is a human-like avatar learning a very specialized human movement. To do this researchers at Carnegie Mellon and DeepMotion, Inc. created a "physics-based, real-time method for controlling animated characters that can learn dribbling skills from experience." The system, which uses "deep reinforcement learning," can use motion capture date to learn basic movements.