3 ms·

very cool. check this out for a modern example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExW_rxKdNJE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExW_rxKdNJE For those interested -

very cool. check this out for a modern example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExW_rxKdNJE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExW_rxKdNJE For those interested -- people are still interested in building maze solving robots, still called "micromouse". Here is one amazin micromouse that can traverse a maze and remember the solution very, very quickly. These days, its as much a mechanical problem (i.e. building a mouse that is robust, and has accurate sensors) as it is algorithmic.

codezero 12y ago
Do you know the rules of the micromouse races? In all the videos I see, the mouse appears to go directly from start to finish without any maze finding going on. My best guess is that they get earlier runs to "learn" the maze, then go for a speed run, is that right?
- fryguy 12y ago
  Yes, there is a learning phase and a timed run.
  - codezero 12y ago
    I am guessing the learning phase plays into the score somehow, otherwise they may as well be pre-programmed, right? It seems unlikely there are mice that would be unable to figure out the mazes at this point.
    - artursapek 12y ago
      It looks like there's something of an art to how they handle corners and diagonals. At sub 10 second run times I think the agility is really the hard part of the programming, not the actual maze solving algorithm.
- dalek2point3 12y ago
  yeah, here is the relevant paragraph from the Wikipedia entry: >The maze is made up of a 16 by 16 grid of cells, each 180 mm square with walls 50 mm high. The mice are completely autonomous robots that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze unaided. The mouse will need to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the center. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will run that route in the shortest possible time. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromouse
prezjordan 12y ago
I've seen a lot of youtube videos, probably too many. This has to be the most interesting one I have ever watched. I seriously cannot get over this. How does it move so smoothly?
- fryguy 12y ago
  Some of them can even drift: http://www.iheartrobotics.com/2010/11/micromouse-news-and-video.html http://www.iheartrobotics.com/2010/11/micromouse-news-and-vi...
tripzilch 12y ago
Oh wow. That is exactly how I imagined the "Rat Things" in Snow Crash to move like :) (except much faster and bigger, of course)

codezero 12y ago

Do you know the rules of the micromouse races? In all the videos I see, the mouse appears to go directly from start to finish without any maze finding going on. My best guess is that they get earlier runs to "learn" the maze, then go for a speed run, is that right?

fryguy 12y ago
Yes, there is a learning phase and a timed run.
- codezero 12y ago
  I am guessing the learning phase plays into the score somehow, otherwise they may as well be pre-programmed, right? It seems unlikely there are mice that would be unable to figure out the mazes at this point.
  - artursapek 12y ago
    It looks like there's something of an art to how they handle corners and diagonals. At sub 10 second run times I think the agility is really the hard part of the programming, not the actual maze solving algorithm.
dalek2point3 12y ago
yeah, here is the relevant paragraph from the Wikipedia entry: >The maze is made up of a 16 by 16 grid of cells, each 180 mm square with walls 50 mm high. The mice are completely autonomous robots that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze unaided. The mouse will need to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the center. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will run that route in the shortest possible time. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromouse

prezjordan 12y ago

I've seen a lot of youtube videos, probably too many. This has to be the most interesting one I have ever watched. I seriously cannot get over this. How does it move so smoothly?

fryguy 12y ago
Some of them can even drift: http://www.iheartrobotics.com/2010/11/micromouse-news-and-video.html http://www.iheartrobotics.com/2010/11/micromouse-news-and-vi...

tripzilch 12y ago

Oh wow. That is exactly how I imagined the "Rat Things" in Snow Crash to move like :) (except much faster and bigger, of course)