Animated basketball players, the kind you see when playing games such as NBA 2K, are currently teaching themselves how to dribble thanks to research work at Carnegie Mellon University.
With a lot of practice repetitions—millions upon millions—digital players are learning how to dribble between their legs, dribble behind their backs, do crossover moves, and transition from one skill to another.
The research, pioneered by Carnegie Mellon researchers and DeepMotion, a California-based developer of smart avatars, is based on motion capture data. Avatars are learning by watching videos of real people dribbling basketballs.
Over time, researchers say their work will help make basketball video games, such as Take-Two Interactive’s NBA 2K (the game that powers the NBA’s official esports league) and EA Sports’ NBA Live, look even more realistic.