Mid-Term Senior Project Report

Phoenix Moorman

CSCI 390 - Senior Seminar & Project

March 20, 2002

Project Recap

• Get a pair of handyboard-based Lego robots to play Lazer Tag using infrared communication

• Develop strategies using Robocode; perform statistical analysis to find winning strategies

• Translate Robocode strategies to real robots

The Robots

Progress - Robots

• Robot bodies are completely built

• ‘Gun Turret’ added to one robot to aid in behavior

• Basic infrared communication achieved

What’s Left - Robots

• Two-way infrared communication needs to be perfected

• Light-seeking equipment needs to be added to robots

Simple Behaviors• Simple behaviors can be powerful despite

their simplicity

• John Dunbar - rides through the enemy lines and swivels its gun

Complex Behaviors• Complex behaviors rely on algorithms that

make use of a number of available factors to better find, attack, and destroy the enemy

• Tracker - attempts to discover the other robot’s strategy by mapping out the other robot’s position on the board

“Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.” - Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”

Progress - Behaviors

• John Dunbar is completed, both for Robocode and handyboard

• Tracker is mainly completed

What’s Left - Behaviors

• Finish Tracker for Robocode, translate to handyboard

• Pit the two strategies against one another in game play

• Write a paper based on my research