Why teach a computer to sail?
Discover the AI
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The challenge
How we did it
The turning point
The results
A surprise
Discover the AI
Typically, new boat designs are tested in a simulator with team members piloting. But they’re not always available. An AI bot could help make testing faster.
But first it needed to learn how to sail like a human.
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The challenge
1. The challenge
Pilots not available
Discover how we did it
Discover how we did it
The AI uses deep reinforcement learning that accumulates experience and continually refines its skill. It responds to varying conditions, and has to understand the trade-offs between immediate and long-term goals.
2. How we did it
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How we did it
The turning point
The turning point
See the results
See the results
After 1,000 hours of sailing time, the bot could match the lifetime experience of world-class sailors.
3. The turning point
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The turning point
And then there was a surprise
And then there was a surprise
The bot was able to increase the speed of testing iterations by ten times. Plus it could perform exactly the same test over and over again to do direct comparisons.
4. The results
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The results
10x
speed for testing iterations
Start over
Start over
5. A surprise
To be able to go down there and compare what you’re doing with the bot is where we see the performance gains.”
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—Peter Burling, Helmsman, Olympic Gold Medalist, Emirates Team New Zealand
The bot began to do maneuvers that were better than the sailors could do in the simulator. It helped them to refine their real-world skills.
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A surprise
1
The challenge
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How we did it
3
The turning point
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The results
5
A surprise