Super Mario Comes to Life With Feelings, Thoughts
German researchers give Nintendo character thoughts, feelings.
— -- Mamma mia! Super Mario has come to life with a dose of artificial intelligence.
German researchers released a new video showing how they have given the popular Nintendo character an awareness of his environment, thoughts and the ability to act on verbal commands to play his game.
Called "Mario Lives," the project was developed by a team at the University of Tübingen in Germany for the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence's annual video contest.
"Mario, how do you feel?" a woman asks in the video.
"I feel very good," Mario replies.
Mario's voice is computer generated. It doesn't sound like Charles Martinet, the guy who voiced him and his pal, Luigi, in the original video game, however the ease with which he responds in the "Mario Lives" video is impressive.
The cheery character isn't "good" all of the time. He maintains internal emotive states that account for curiosity, happiness, hunger and fear -- all of which can be affected by Mario's environment.
Mario's replies are not scripted, according to the researchers, who said he has the ability to continually get smarter.
When asked about his nemesis Goomba, Mario at first says he does not know anything. However, after learning that Goomba can be killed when Mario jumps on him, Mario is later able to repeat this fact.
As for those famous gold coins -- Mario will go after them when he's hungry, according to the narrator. Check out the super smart Mario in action here: