Scientists discover non-living hydrogel can play and improve Pong

Researchers have discovered that the polymer material hydrogel can enhance the gameplay experience when playing the popular video game Pong.

As reported in the findings in the Cell Press journal, scientists were able to pair nonliving hydrogels with electrical stimulation in a virtual video game environment. This then allowed the nonliving hydrogel to improve its gameplay by up to 10% with practice and was even able to create longer rallies between paddles in addition to an increased hit rate. It took 20 minutes for the hydrogel to reach its maximum “Pong potential,” according to the journal.

“We’ve shown that hydrogels can not only play Pong; they can actually get better at it over time,” said lead author and robotics engineer Vincent Strong of the University of Reading.

More research is needed, but the researchers say this shows that nonliving materials, in this case hydrogel, have the ability to use memory to update the hydrogel’s understanding of its immediate environment.

This latest study and research were inspired by tests done a few years ago on a scale of brain cells that had learned to play Pong.