While the fields of robotics and video games certainly take cues from one another, most people tend to not think of the two necessarily overlapping. Scientists and engineers have created programs that learn how to play games in the past, and a team of researchers has taken that line of thought a step further, creating a robotic hand that can play the original Super Mario Bros. using an actual NES controller.

Originally released in 1985, Super Mario Bros. was Nintendo's seminal video game for its original console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. Well-cemented as an iconic cornerstone of video game history, a 9.6 "1-code" hang tab copy of the game recently sold for an astounding $660,000.

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A team of scientific researchers and engineers from the University of Maryland have created a 3D-printed soft robotic hand agile enough to not only operate an NES controller in real-time, but actually beat World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. As detailed in the report published by the university, the hand demonstrates "a promising innovation" in the burgeoning field of "soft robotics." Soft robotics are robots created with flexible, inflatable materials, as opposed to rigid metal, and powered via air or water rather than electricity. The safe and adaptable nature of soft robotics has sparked interest in its application to things outside games, like prosthetics and biomedical devices.

While soft robotics aren't a new invention, this project's key breakthrough is the ability to 3D print the robot hand fully assembled, with "integrated fluidic circuits" in a single step. The team overcame this by using "PolyJet 3D Printing," which essentially functions like a color printer, with each color "ink" a different material. As mentioned previously, robots and artificial intelligence have been programmed to play video games. Earlier this year Uber AI Labs designed AI that could beat classic 80s platformers like Pitfall, but this appears to be the first major instance of a physical robot operating an actual controller to complete a level.

Robotics, AI, and video games are becoming increasingly interwoven as time goes on. For example, Discord recently purchased an AI software intended to moderate and combat online toxicity and harassment. Another company has developed a similar, perhaps more robust version of chat moderation software called ToxMod that not only tracks what gamers are saying, but how they're saying it. In terms of physical robotics, the company Open Bionic has not only teamed with Square Enix to produce Deus Ex-style prosthetic hands, but also official Metal Gear Solid prosthetic arms as well. A "cyberpunk" era looks to be reaching the realm of feasibility.

The 3D-printed soft robotic hand is an incredible technological achievement in and of itself to look at, and having it tested with Super Mario Bros. is just icing on the cake. The University of Maryland engineers have made the robot hand open source, so technically anyone can make one. Pair that with the also-open-source 3D-printed mini-NES, and gamers can conduct the same test at home.

Super Mario Bros. is available now for NES.

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Source: University of Maryland