fly brain results are cool but how did it learn?
I tried to show learning episodes in this simple game:
a fly holds a joystick and tilts a platform to roll a ball into the hole.
like those old tabletop labyrinth toys.
166,700 neurons feeding a trained joystick controller.
levels are:
- straight path
- corner
- switchbacks
- full labyrinth.
goal: +5
wall hit: -0.1
checkpoint: +0.15
small penalties for taking too long and jerky commands.
you can watch recorded training attempts, rewards and neural activity together.
hits a wall, overshoots, tries again.
went from rolling a ball in a straight line to finishing the whole labyrinth. rly cool to see how it got there !
everyone is training fly brains to do different things
i wanted to look inside before starting my own experiments
so here is FLY ATLAS
139,662 neurons in 3D from the MaleCNS dataset
click a neuron to see its strongest incoming connections
switch regions on/off, zoom in, look around.
dots are actual cell-body positions
lines show connections
its incredibly cool seeing how much fits in a fly
link 👇