our navyRecently, a press release was issued, raising a sea lion that can play video games. The sea lion cod named Spike is now the No. 1 player in San Diego Bay.
This research focuses on studying and improving the cognitive abilities of marine mammals. And after the experiment, it was also found that the game can keep the sea lions in a happy mood.
The US military has a long history of training animals to aid in combat, and the “Game Sea Lion” is one of the most recent successful marine mammal programs. The US Navy trained three sea lions to play video games, and gave them a code name as a game ID; after training, the sea lion “Spike” learned to complete the challenges of using buttons to control light spots to get out of the maze and chase the target (fish) in sequence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRuRr7bFTs8
The US Navy created this game system EVE (Environmental Video Enrichment) The researchers will first teach the sea lions to pay attention to the pictures and interactions that appear on the screen, and then use the controller. The sea lions will gradually understand the correspondence. between the buttons and the pictures; from scratch Can control the light point to move to the target position, get out of the maze, and even learn to chase moving targets.
As the sea lions gradually got used to the gameplay, they not only changed direction when the control light hit the wall, but also passed the level in an average of 6 seconds and no more than 7 button presses .
In fact, during the entire training program, video games were one of the care items that provided entertainment to the sea lions, but this was able to confirm the cognitive abilities of the sea lions, including the ability to recognize objects on the screen and handling complex interfaces.
The US military has also discovered that the game seems to keep the sea lions in a good mood; after three years of practice, Spike and his fellow sea lions can complete the game on their own initiative often without the need for food.
The US military mentioned that sea lions will not experience a state of “mental burst.” Kelley Winship, lead scientist and researcher at the National Marine Mammal Institute (NMMF), joked that sea lions may be more civil than humans when playing games because they don’t get frustrated: “You don’t see them they laugh at the other sea. lions or It’s a wrestling handle.”
Kelley Winship also said that this research will continue because the possibilities are endless. Later, a chase game will be made that will allow researchers to fight against Spike: “Spike will be very excited to see that he can run after the target that we control.”
Although it is unclear what the US military wants sea lions to learn, the detective dolphins of the “Oolong Police Station” may one day be possible.
