The Chancellor of the Universe, a game created in Halifax that features machine learning, augmented reality and robotics, has been featured on the Discovery Channel.

Three weeks ago, we featured an article on Brave New World, a Halifax web development company that has added a robotics division to its business. The company is developing a mixed-technology game called Chancellor of the Universe.

At first glance, it’s just another board game, but there’s one difference – it features a robot (called the Chancellor) that uses machine learning to understand the people playing the game. The Chancellor rules the universe and players have to try to overthrow him. Players can not only interact directly with the Chancellor but can use an augmented reality feature on their phones to enhance the experience.

The Discovery Channel this week featured the Chancellor on its Daily Planet segment, showing the development team in the BNW office playing the game. Click on the image to view the click.

 “We're doing something completely crazy,” Brave New World CEO Mike Rizkalla explained in the clip. "We're doing something that's never been done before."

Brave New World’s grand vision is that this robot will just be the first step in a line of mixed-reality, robotics-based games. The robot will just be a platform, and the company will release new games so players can remove the Chancellor’s outer shell, replace it with another exterior. The player will end up with a whole new game with a different-looking robot.