Millions of people have played the classic Super Mario, one of the best and most entertaining platform games of all time. But what if Mario were self-aware and conscious of his surroundings? Could he rescue the princess? The answer is Mario AI Project, the artificial intelligence that lets Mario learn to play his own game.
The Cognitive Modeling group, part of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Tübingen in Germany, has developed an artificial intelligence that allows Mario to be self-aware and aware of his surroundings. He can listen to and respond to voice commands, and even has his own set of emotions. Thanks to this, the character can learn (from the player or on his own) that jumping on a Goompa easily defeats it.
Mario's Needs and Autonomy
The plumber even has his own systems of feelings and needs: if Mario is hungry, he will start looking for coins, and if he feels curious, he might casually explore the level autonomously to reinforce his knowledge base. But the best part is Mario's ability to plan routes that allow him to reach hard-to-get-to places; by calculating the number of moves, how high he needs to jump, the direction of the jump, and so on, he can successfully reach practically any terrain.
The Future of Mario AI
The Cognitive Modeling group is using Mario AI to help learn how the human brain works, although this technology could also be used to build incredible video games in the near future. However, it is worth remembering that this is not Mario's first adventure in artificial intelligence; the Mario AI competition has been running for several years using Nintendo's classic character.
