AI Hoops Academy

Inside HoopsBot's Brain 🧠

👁️ State & 🎯 Action

HoopsBot makes decisions the same way a real AI does — it looks at the State and picks an Action.

👁️ State

What the bot can see

e.g. ball position, blocker height

🎯 Action

What the bot chooses

e.g. angle + power combo

The Q-Table stores a score for every State → Action pair. Higher score = bot thinks that action is better in that state.

📊 Your Brain Right Now

📄 Level 1 — One Grid

The ball never moves, so HoopsBot only needs a single 10×10 grid. What you see is the entire brain.

📖 Level 2 — Flipbook

The ball moves — so the brain needs pages. Each ball position gets its own 10×10 grid. You're seeing one page right now.

💡 Same shot, different position = different result. That's why separate pages exist.

📚 Level 3 — Library 🤯

Ball + blocker = the brain is a whole library. One flipbook per blocker position, each with pages per ball position. You're seeing one page out of hundreds.

Watch the State strip above the grid — it shows which state the bot is currently on.

🎨 Reading the Grid

Each cell = one angle+power combo. The color shows how good the bot thinks that combo is:

Green — Good shot! Reward was +1. Bot will try this again.

Pink — Bad shot. Reward was −1. Bot will avoid this.

Grey — Not tried yet. The bot has no opinion.

Brighter color = stronger opinion. Faded = only a little data so far.

🧠 How It Learns

After every shot, the bot updates that cell using the Bellman equation:

                            Q(s,a) ← Q(s,a) + α × [reward − Q(s,a)]
                        

α = 0.2 learning rate

+1 basket

−1 any miss

The more the bot trains, the stronger its opinions become. Watch the cell pulse and change color after each shot!

⭐ Your Coaching Role

You're the coach — HoopsBot can't learn without your help!

🏋️

Train buttons — run simulations to fill the grid. More training = stronger colors = smarter bot.

🏀

SHOOT! — watch the bot use its brain to pick the best cell it knows, then learn from the result.

👁️

Watch the grid — see which cell lights up before each shot, and watch it update after.

Now go train HoopsBot and see what it learns! 🚀

1 / 5

You!

Try to find the one perfect shot! Think about what you need: more/less power, or a higher/lower angle?

Angle: 65° Power: 35

HoopsBot

🤖 Training...

Q-Table

Lo PWR Hi

45° ANGLE 90°

State:

Use the 'Train' buttons to make me smarter! Then click 'SHOOT!'.

Welcome to AI Hoops!

First, Tell Us About You!

Select a Level to Start!

Level 1One Spot, One Brain

Level 2New Spot, New Page

Level 3Dodge the Blocker

Inside HoopsBot's Brain 🧠

You!

HoopsBot

Q-Table

Level 1
One Spot, One Brain

Level 2
New Spot, New Page

Level 3
Dodge the Blocker