Re: [pygame] Summer of Code Participation

[Miriam English <mim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Micah,

What kind of AI are you thinking of working on? Neural network or 
database system? In my opinion neural networks hold the most promise, 
even though database styled AI has had the most success to date (e.g. 
Alicebot http://alicebot.blogspot.com ).

Pyro is a robotics module for python. http://pyrorobotics.org
I believe it can be used to make traditional neural networks, though I 
don't know of anybody who has done so.
http://pyrorobotics.org/?page=Introduction_20to_20Neural_20Nets
The Pyro people recommend using Conx to make the actual neural net
http://pyrorobotics.org/?page=Building_20Neural_20Networks_20using_20Conx
Again, I haven't done this nor know of anybody who has, or how easy or 
effective it is.

Traditional neural nets can do some pretty wonderful things, though some 
are not particularly like biological systems and end up getting a bit 
lost in theoretical nonsense.

If you have alternative ideas I'm sure they could be put to terrific 
use. Python could certainly benefit from such stuff (in my opinion).

Have you heard of Numenta? http://www.numenta.com
They are using python trying to model brain function and have made their 
software open and freely downloadable (though there are licensing 
restrictions on it). They have had some success so far in this approach. 
They use a model called Hierarchical Temporal Memory (unfortunately 
abbreviating to "HTM") which seeks to model intelligence by copying from 
the kind of neural nets actually used in our own brains. Of course that 
has its shortcomings too because they concentrate on the neocortex and 
don't seem to be considering the parts played by the deeper systems that 
control attention and emotions. Still, we all have to start somewhere. :)

Fast Artificial Neural Network Library (FANN) has python bindings, but I 
don't know much about it. http://leenissen.dk/fann/

Hope this helps.

If you choose to go ahead with your idea as a separate project please 
drop me a line. I'd love to know about it.

Cheers,

	- Miriam

mlerner789 wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> My name is Micah Lerner, and I am a Computer Science major at Brandeis 
> University who is very interested in contributing to PyGame this summer. 
> I saw on the ideas page that development of an AI module was a suggested 
> idea, and it is something that I would like to develop. Has work already 
> been started on this task? If not, is that idea still open for 
> implementation?
>
> -Micah Lerner

--
If you don't have any failures then you're not trying hard enough.
 - Dr. Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
-----
Website: http://miriam-english.org
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