Using adaptive reinforcement learning, an AI-powered robot named Curly was able to beat human competitors in three out of four curling matches, a sport that requires strategy and precision. While trained by a simulator, Curly had to adjust to changing real-world conditions inherent in the sport, such as ice condition and competitor's positions, to be successful.

1. The AI-Powered Robot
That Learnt Curling Using
Adaptive Deep
Reinforcement Learning

2. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
Using adaptive reinforcement learning, an AI-powered robot named Curly was able to
beat human competitors in three out of four curling matches, a sport that requires
strategy and precision. While trained by a simulator, Curly had to adjust to changing
real-world conditions inherent in the sport, such as ice condition and competitor's
positions, to be successful.
In curling, a sport that’s been referred to as “chess on ice” because of the strategy and
precision involved, a robot named Curly beat Korean national teams in three out of four
official matches. Robots have certainly come a long way, but they are still fairly clumsy,
and most lack the dexterity of the human body. So Curly, the robot that mastered
curling, is quite impressive.
The AI-Powered Robot That Learnt Curling Using
Adaptive Deep Reinforcement Learning

3. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
What is Curling?
To fully appreciate this feat of technology, it’s important to understand the sport of
curling. Curling requires the physicality of bowling as players push a 40-pound stone
down a sheet of ice from a boundary called a hogline toward a target that’s 100 feet away.
The target for the stone is called the house that has concentric circles—the closer you get
to the target, the more points you get.
In curling, you compete against a team whose players also attempt to hurl their granite
puck closer to the target or knock out yours to earn the most points.
Curling strategy is about figuring out how to keep your opponent’s stone away from the
house by bumping it out of position while doing so with enough finesse that your stone
aligns in the house in an optimal position. The trick is that the friction of the stone and ice
makes the elements faced by the competitors always shifting throughout the match.
Curling is no easy feat for man and an incredible accomplishment for a machine.

4. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Curly and Its Creators
Klaus-Robert Müller at the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany and his colleagues
are behind Curly’s creation. Curly is powered by artificial intelligence, specifically an
adaptive deep reinforcement learning framework. The robot has two wheels in the front
and a caster wheel in the back. It has a telescoping camera that reaches 7 feet in the air to
help the robot see the house and another one right above the front wheels for it to spot
the hogline. Along with four smaller wheels shaped in a U and powered by a conveyor
belt, the robot grasps the stone with its front wheel. It’s the U-shaped wheels that enable
the robot to spin the stone, the curl that makes the stone spin right or left, a critical
technique in the sport.
To help Curly learn the strategy of curling, the development team created a simulation of
a curling game that Curly could compete with and learn from. The challenging thing to
simulate was the ever-changing conditions that happen in each match—the ice conditions
and the stone’s polish and other physics of the sport. Human competitors must continually
adapt to changing conditions. As a result, there was a gap between the simulation and
reality.
Before a match begins, competitors are allowed test throws to learn more about the
current conditions.

5. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Curly and Its Creators
Curly also did the test throws and then needed to align real-world experience with the
mathematical models it learned from. It was programmed to compare the current
conditions experienced in the test throws against the training model and adjust as
necessary.
Additionally, during the match, Curly had to learn the best moves for the next throw,
depending on the position of the competitor's stones. In the simulation, Curly was given
various scenarios and considered different throws, ultimately gauging the risk of each
type. Using the knowledge it gained in training and then adjusting to the real-world
conditions and progression of the match, the robot adapted its plan accordingly to
achieve success.
It’s important to note that these matches between Curly and the Koreans weren’t an exact
replica of the sport since there was no sweeping—the process where teammates sweep a
broom in front of the stone to scrub the ice to reduce friction and make the stone travel a
straighter course—done by Curly or the Korean competitors in these matches.

6. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Curly and Its Creators
Ultimately, Curly’s training and development resulted in success showing that artificial
intelligence can adapt to real-world conditions. Olympic-level curling competitors learn
the nuances of their sport over 15 to 20 years. It was truly remarkable that a robot
powered by AI achieved so much in such a short amount of time and successfully adapted
to the many variables that are part of a curling competition. Curly showed that even if
there is a gap between physics-based simulators and real-world conditions, artificial
intelligence can overcome it. This will be important as other artificial intelligence systems
are developed.

7. Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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