A tiny world model running games on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W(github.com)
234 points by airinei 16 hours ago | 16 comments
tl;dr: Two tiny neural networks run on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W: a looped int8 transformer "world model" (26k–131k params) that generates game frames and rewards from an action, and an MLP actor that plays inside the dream. Five games (Breakout, Pong, Flappy Bird, Doom-lite, Pac-Man) were implemented, with the world model achieving 83–100% exact frame prediction and fitting within the Pico's 4MB flash and 512KB SRAM. The project also includes on-device reinforcement learning via Stream AC(λ), WebAssembly builds, and reusable PyTorch→no_std Rust export tooling.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Asks a clarifying question about the training hardware while praising the project
  • ↑Believes tiny locally-run neural networks represent the real future of AI
  • ↑Finds the technical detail about looped transformers for Doom fascinating
  • •Questions whether the actor could exploit world model hallucinations
  • •Surprised at NN determinism and curious if overfitting explains it