Theseus the Mouse

"Shannon with Theseus, a mechanical mouse that was some of the earliest work in machine learning." Cybernetic Zoo. No date.

For fun, Shannon created intelligent machines with his wife Betty, another Bell Labs mathematician. In 1950, they invented a mechanical mouse named Theseus, after the Greek mythological king who marked his path through a labyrinth with thread. Theseus communicated to itself through Shannon's mechanical maze by marking its path with open switches. The mouse went through the maze once to learn it, so that it could solve that same maze without error from anywhere it had explored as long as the maze was not rearranged.

"I’ve always pursued my interests without much regard for financial value or value to the world. I’ve been more interested in whether a problem is exciting than what it will do. … I’ve spent lots of time on totally useless things."
- Claude Shannon

Although Shannon created this for personal enjoyment, Theseus was a first example of machines that learned to solve problems by communicating with other machinery.

"Shannon with Theseus, a mechanical mouse that was some of the earliest work in machine learning." Research Gate. No date.

Theseus the Mouse ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​

Theseus the Mouse