Humans have been getting their tails handed to them by computers. A.I. has been regularly trouncing humanity in classic games like chess, Go, and Mortal Kombat for years now. But there’s one area where we still reign supreme (for now): motorcycle racing.
The Yamaha MOTOBOT project began in 2015 with the goal of an A.I. driving a motorcycle “with no modifications made to the motorcycle itself.” MOTOBOT controls six actuators on the bike: the steering wheel, throttle, front brake, rear brake, clutch and gearshift pedal. As a test for the ambitious project, Yamaha and partners SRI International gave themselves an equally ambitious goal: MOTOBOT beating MotoGP racer Valentino Rossi.
Rossi, a coworkers of the researchers while racing for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, has won a remarkable 89 out of the 301 races he has been in professionally. Make that 90 as he smoked MOTOBOT.
Source Popular Mechanics Read more.
