Cheese and trash, until it is done - Man trains Rat to play doom using 2000$

[williamcll]

 

A man is teaching his rat to play doom, the VR getup used to do this (since a rat does not know how to use a controller or a keyboard) is rather interesting.

Quotes

Quote

What started as a side project for [Viktor Tóth] has evolved into quite a complex apparatus. At the center of the rig is an omnidirectional treadmill comprised of a polystyrene ball about the size of a bowling ball. The ball is free to rotate, with sensors detecting rotation in two axes — it’s basically a big electromechanical mouse upside down. The rat rides at the top of the ball, wearing a harness to keep it from slipping off. A large curved monitor sits right in front of the rat to display the virtual environment, which is a custom DOOM map. With the VR rig built, [Viktor] worked on automating the training.

A treat dispenser provides the proper motivation, while powered drive wheels engage with the ball to nudge the rat if it gets stuck in the virtual world. [Viktor] says he has trained three rats — [Romero], [Carmack], and [Tom] — to walk down a straight hallway using this automated method. As for the meat of the game — shooting monsters — [Viktor] has that covered too, with a sensor that detects when a rat rears up on its hind legs to register a shot.

 

My thoughts

Honestly this could be expanded to other animals to see how they behave in various environments without subjecting them to it. Also know that there are people RIGHT NOW that play DOOM worse than this rodent.

 

Sources

 

https://hackaday.com/2021/12/29/rats-learn-to-play-doom-in-this-automated-vr-arena/

https://medium.com/mindsoft/rats-in-doom-eb6c52c73aca

[da na]

We've seen Doom on smart fridges... now it's time for Doom on rats? 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Rip and tear, until a rat can too.

[Salv8 (sam)]

4 hours ago, williamcll said:

Also know that there are people RIGHT NOW that play DOOM worse than this rodent.

are you ready for a flight of fantasy?

[Doobeedoo]

I can hear Mick Gordon riffing.

[pas008]

Splinter? Becoming a master

 

[Heliian]

Well, this is bordering on cruelty to animals. 

 

 

[Shreyas1]

On 12/30/2021 at 8:04 AM, williamcll said:

My thoughts

Honestly this could be expanded to other animals to see how they behave in various environments without subjecting them to it.

See here's the thing, many animals don't rely on vision as much as humans do. That rat probably relies on smell more than vision to live in an environment so the illusion probably won't be effective

 

According to a quick google search, rats are extremely nearsighted, so the rat probably can't even see whats on that screen lol.

 

Its probably like designing a videogame with no visuals, only audio cues, and expecting people to play well. Except the audio cues are mostly in a really high and really low frequency which you can't hear anyways. I bet that rat is just going on memory

[Jtalk4456]

it's interesting for sure, I'm just trying to figure out the Why behind this. What knowledge will we learn from training rats to play doom? What applications of that knowledge are there in our modern society? Why Doom? 

[StDragon]

On 1/1/2022 at 7:12 PM, Shreyas1 said:

See here's the thing, many animals don't rely on vision as much as humans do. That rat probably relies on smell more than vision to live in an environment so the illusion probably won't be effective

 

According to a quick google search, rats are extremely nearsighted, so the rat probably can't even see whats on that screen lol.

^THIS

Anyone that's had to trap rats know that you place the traps against walls and other objects; they feel more secure running along side something as a guide for navigation. And yes, smell is the deciding factor of which direction to head.

Fun fact: Cheese doesn't make for good bait. Rats love oranges / citrus (they will go crazy for pineapple) and nuts; their high metabolism demands the concentrated energy found in such foods.

[Roswell]

That rat doesn't see anything whatsoever on that screen, their vision is almost nonexistent, it's a blurry mess. 

 

This is dumb.