Computer Creativity in Soccer

Computer Creativity in Soccer

Studies concerning computer creativity in art and music have been central issues in the field of Artificial Intelligence for over thirty years, and several scholars of computer science are optimistic that computers will eventually be able to create original works (Miranda, 16), but not until recently had any computer programmer pursued Artificial Intelligence in athletics. This is a particularly daunting field because our knowledge of robotics is still very primitive, but this does not merit neglecting further investigation. Robotic soccer has emerged as a new challenge in Artificial Intelligence, but the question remains of whether robots playing sports has anything to do with true “intelligence,” or the level of creativity that is necessary to produce something artistic. The study of robotic soccer is similar to that of computer-composed art in several ways, the simplest parallel being that the more intelligent a computer is, the more it excels at each of the fields. After a certain point, raw computing power will not help a computer to improve anymore at either soccer or art, but the ability to think originally will be essential in bringing out true talent in a machine.

The concept for robotic soccer originated in 1994 at an AI conference when professor of computer science at University of British Columbia, Alan Mackworth, presented a team of motorized miniature Porsches with computer chips that chased a ball around, trying to knock it into a goal. The motorized cars were equipped with only a vision system and some basic programming, but much to the excitement of the crowd of European and Japanese spectators, they were completely independent of any human control. Mackworth had originally come up with the idea only a few years earlier, after learning of MIT and IBM’s joint project to build Deep Blue, the most advanced chess-playing computer program that became better than any human player after beating grandmaster Kasparov in a best out of five game match. Mackworth realized how simple it was to construct a computer that could outwit a human opponent at chess, commenting that, “chess computers sit in a room and stare at a board. I thought AI should raise the bar.” (Preville, National Post)

Chess seemed to be tailored towards computers - it is a single-player, strategical game in which players have no time constraints when thinking through all possible moves, and it does not necessitate mobility.