4 ms·

How the Winning Tron Bot Works

113 points by yongqli 15y ago

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
rjh29 15y ago
This is really interesting, thanks for the submission. It also highlights just what you need to compete in these contests - raw programming skill, plenty of algorithmic knowledge, the ability to come up with clever heuristics and the desire to try absolutely anything to improve the quality of those heuristics. Seeing the process behind that was very enlightening.
jbrechtel 15y ago
Here's the post mortem by the winner of the subsequent AI contest: http://quotenil.com/Planet-Wars-Post-Mortem.html http://quotenil.com/Planet-Wars-Post-Mortem.html
rmc 15y ago
Looks like the old AI Contest site ( http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/contest/rankings.php http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/contest/rankings.php ) has been hacked. The "Google AI Challenge" header links to a random online game site)
- streptomycin 15y ago
  hacked, or monetized?
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    In my experience, most universities forbid the monetization of sites that they host. I'm going with hacked.
    - _flag 15y ago
      It seems likely that someone involved with the contest is trying to use it for free advertising. Look at the "About" page on that flash app, the person apparently lives in Waterloo, and his email has "uwaterloo" in it.
- aerique 15y ago
  It is now located at http://ai-contest.com/ http://ai-contest.com/ although it hasn't been updated for the latest challenge (Ants, which hasn't started yet).
- rcfox 15y ago
  I've notified those in charge of the site. Thanks for pointing that out!
  - rmc 15y ago
    Thanks, looks fixed now.
- smackfu 15y ago
  All the YouTube vids are broken because the account has been closed. How odd.
_flag 15y ago
There is supposed to be a new version of this contest coming up soon, although it seems to be temporarily stalled as the main developers are busy with other things. You can find the beta here: http://aichallengebeta.hypertriangle.com/ http://aichallengebeta.hypertriangle.com/
- jbrechtel 15y ago
  ............says the guy currently kicking everyone else's tail. (nice work by the way)
a1k0n 15y ago
You can also play against a dumbed-down Javascript version of the bot. It only spends a few milliseconds searching for a move rather than a whole second, and its move evaluator isn't as smart -- but at least a human has a chance of beating it and the code is very simple: http://a1k0n.net/code/tron.html http://a1k0n.net/code/tron.html

113 points by yongqli 15y ago

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

rjh29 15y ago

This is really interesting, thanks for the submission. It also highlights just what you need to compete in these contests - raw programming skill, plenty of algorithmic knowledge, the ability to come up with clever heuristics and the desire to try absolutely anything to improve the quality of those heuristics. Seeing the process behind that was very enlightening.

jbrechtel 15y ago

Here's the post mortem by the winner of the subsequent AI contest: http://quotenil.com/Planet-Wars-Post-Mortem.html http://quotenil.com/Planet-Wars-Post-Mortem.html

rmc 15y ago

Looks like the old AI Contest site ( http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/contest/rankings.php http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/contest/rankings.php ) has been hacked. The "Google AI Challenge" header links to a random online game site)

streptomycin 15y ago
hacked, or monetized?
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  In my experience, most universities forbid the monetization of sites that they host. I'm going with hacked.
  - _flag 15y ago
    It seems likely that someone involved with the contest is trying to use it for free advertising. Look at the "About" page on that flash app, the person apparently lives in Waterloo, and his email has "uwaterloo" in it.
aerique 15y ago
It is now located at http://ai-contest.com/ http://ai-contest.com/ although it hasn't been updated for the latest challenge (Ants, which hasn't started yet).
rcfox 15y ago
I've notified those in charge of the site. Thanks for pointing that out!
- rmc 15y ago
  Thanks, looks fixed now.
smackfu 15y ago
All the YouTube vids are broken because the account has been closed. How odd.

_flag 15y ago

There is supposed to be a new version of this contest coming up soon, although it seems to be temporarily stalled as the main developers are busy with other things. You can find the beta here: http://aichallengebeta.hypertriangle.com/ http://aichallengebeta.hypertriangle.com/

jbrechtel 15y ago
............says the guy currently kicking everyone else's tail. (nice work by the way)

a1k0n 15y ago

You can also play against a dumbed-down Javascript version of the bot. It only spends a few milliseconds searching for a move rather than a whole second, and its move evaluator isn't as smart -- but at least a human has a chance of beating it and the code is very simple: http://a1k0n.net/code/tron.html http://a1k0n.net/code/tron.html