Researchers have discovered that the hydrogel polymer material can play and enhance your gaming experience while playing the popular video game Pong.
As reported in the journal Cell Press, the scientists were able to connect non-living hydrogels to electrical stimulation in a virtual video game environment. This then allowed the non-living hydrogel to improve its gameplay by up to 10% with practice and was even able to create longer rallies between paddles while increasing the hitting rate. It took 20 minutes for the hydrogel to reach its maximum “Pong potential,” the journal reports.
“We've shown that hydrogels aren't just capable of playing Pong; they can actually get better over time,” said first author and robotics engineer Vincent Strong of the University of Reading.
Further research is still needed, but the researchers said this demonstrates the ability of non-living materials – hydrogel in this case – to use memory to update the hydrogel's understanding of its immediate environment.
This latest study and research was inspired by tests carried out a few years ago on a sample of brain cells that had been taught to play Pong.