Congrats!
Just popped up in my head: I vaguely remember a project at the university here, where a floppy metal arm, basically just a thin, flat stick of metal, was moved as if it were rigid by a motor controlled by software running on a transputer network. The system wasn't self-learning, but they added that later.
Thanks.
Yes There are many ways to skin that goat. It is also something with a lot of potential uses.