Machine learning has long been a topic of interest for humanity, but only in recent years have we had broad access to great computing power to enable to the average person to dive in. [Yosh] recently decided to put an AI to work learning how to race in Trackmania.
After early experiments with supervised learning, [Yosh] decided to implement a genetic algorithm to produce an AI to drive in the game. The AI takes distance from the track walls as an input, and has steering and accelerator values as an output. Starting with 100 AIs in generation 1, [Yosh] iterated by choosing the AIs that covered the longest distance in 13 seconds. Once the AIs started to get the hang of the first few corners, he changed the training to instead prioritize the lowest time taken to traverse each of the checkpoints along the track.
The AI improved over time, and over 100 generations, got down to a 23.48s time on the test track, versus 19.63s for [Trabadia], a talented human. We’d love to see how much better the AI could do with more training. [Yosh] is trying more experiments, like providing extra feedback in the AI fitness function to keep it from hitting the walls. It’s not the first time we’ve seen a genetic algorithm used to train a racing AI, either. Video after the break.
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