Yesterday the jury decided that subteam Amaru put up by Serpentine has won the 5th Angry Birds Level Generation Competition and that 500 US dollars will be credited to their account. The competition required the students to program a computer so that it can itself design levels for the well-known video game Angry Birds.

“AI is usually used to win a game, but this competition was all about developing an algorithm that makes the game more fun to play,” says Serpentine's president Richard van Wouw.

Serpentine, founded in April 2019, now has 34 members. Its aim is to learn more and gain more experience with AI by taking part in competitions, primarily those related to video games.“Often these contests limit teams to a maximum of five members, so each time we run a different subteam, like Amaru this week, says Van Wouw. “The first big competition that Serpentine won was hosted by the FruitPunch AI foundation, and this week we scored our first big international victory.”

Self-learning

“For years now, computers have been good at playing games and they are better at it all the time,” explains team captain Wolf van der Hert. “The only thing is, it is a lot harder to explain to a computer what makes a level fun than what it takes to win a level. Computers that can understand what people want are of interest to a great many companies.”

The competition is part of an international conference at which scientists present the latest developments in artificial intelligence. “Scientists use games as the ideal environment in which to test their new ideas, and competitions are ideal for encouraging people to come up with creative solutions,” Van der Hert continues. “Artificial intelligence is going to change our lives, just as the internet has done. Taking part in competitions enables us to learn about the latest developments and gives us the opportunity to put Eindhoven on the map.“

The conference, which was supposed to be held in Osaka, was held online instead due to coronavirus. Van Wouw feels it is a shame. “We would have liked to have taken a delegation to Japan to gather knowledge and to bring it back to Eindhoven. After all, that is the aim of our association. Still, our victory is no less special to us because we participated online. Hopefully, we can defend our title live next year.”