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Bots / The Ultimate Palm Robot/ Mukhar & Johnson / 222880-6 / Chapter 10

260 The Ultimate Palm Robot

That’s where neural networks come in. When neural nets burst onto the
scene a few decades ago, some scientists thought that they would give ma-
chines human-like intelligence in short order. Since neural nets are learning
programs that improve through training and experience, they bear a passing
resemblance to the way the human brain works. And technologies saw neural
nets as the key to unlocking voice translation, pattern recognition, auto-navi-
gation, and a slew of other problems.
It really didn’t pan out that way, however; neural nets, despite their early
promise, haven’t proven to be the magic bullet that solves all of our deepest
programming challenges. Nonetheless, they still have a role in robotics, and
many roboticists continue to develop robots using neural networks. If you
want to get a taste of what neural networks are all about, try Nanobots, a
clever strategy game that’s also a primer on neural networks. You need to
teach a batch of nanobots how to eliminate a virus by moving around the
screen. There are other considerations: you need to minimize your interaction
with healthy blood cells and other nanobots. The program costs a mere $4.95.

To use Nanobots, you’ll need to install a small utility called Mathlib on your
Palm; it’s free and you can find a copy of that program on Palmgear as well.

YADaleks+
This version of Daleks is even better than the mini-Daleks game you’ll find in
Botz, and it’s well worth checking out.
To be perfectly honest, versions of Daleks are only a little less common than
fireflies in June. We found a small assortment of Dalek-like games, but trust
us: this one, with an abbreviated title that stands for “Yet Another Daleks,” is
the one to try.

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Monday, May 12, 2003 1:22:34 PM