Yeah I can't spell very good at all lol

Well, yes, or the AI could even be part of the framework and it is the programmer's job to write an interface for it to be used in the world... Oh well, it would make a good subcategory.

Yea, how about grammar competition too?

well i stink at english too

While looking for other programming competitions today, I found C++ Robots. It is a competition wher each coder programs virtual robots that do battle autonomously against other such robots.

The source code for the combat engine is available. What if it could be modified to represent the FIRST field and virtual robots could be programmed to compete with the current (or past, or maybe even made up) FIRST games. I don't know how hard this would be, but I just thought that would be fun.

i don't do much programming but what i do work on is a few things that are autonomous programming. But here is my thoughts/ideas.

Everyone would get a single kit of either the Parallax BOEBots Kit or of the Bipedal "Toddler" Kit and say have a 12 hour period to work on and program their bots. This would have to be either one kit or the other for everyone and i would say to use the BOEBots Kit. None of the parts in the kits would be able to be altered but you could chose what you want to use out of the kit. The competition could be like a mini obstacle course and would be unveiled at the start of competition, maybe an hour before the 12 hours start. This could be judged on how fast you can complete the course, how accurate your bot completed it and how advanced your bot was (what type of sensors did it use and so on). Also you could work in a team made up from 1-4 people. The 12 hours can be split up among 2 days or could all be in one day. Also each group would be given a hard copy of the plans of the course to use to work with.

This idea was used on Team 250 in September-October 2002 to use as a pregame to the kick off. It worked really well and even one of our students created the timing system, with an easy timing circuit (555 maybe) and a few optical sensors for the start and stop lines. We had i think 10 teams compete and it was a very fun and educational idea. As the whole thing was Autonomous and each group got to work on a basic stamp and learn how to program it.

~Mike

Reply with your thoughts.

Competition
 

This has to be a very simple task the first year. And once we get the first year going smooth then we can make it more difficult as the years go on... If we make it hard the first year most of the teams wont attempt it. So my opinion is that AI is to hard for the first year and that we need simple game ideas such as Point A to Point B then maybe a turn to get to Point C. Something like that. Last year most of the teams didn't even have there bot programed at competition so it must be something very simple. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I love you.

Re: Competition
 

I will try and get a photo or the cad drawings of our "field/course" up so you can see if that would be considered too hard, i really think that what we had done this past year would be perfect for the first try at it and also that it wouldnt be too hard... Just the equiptment for it would be kinda pricey, so it would have to be limited space probably...
~Mike

Thank you that would be very appreciated

Re: Programming Compatition
 

I think this is a great idea. I would surely participate, but there are so many languages. Would we use one constant language, like C the entire time or would it vary?

Haha, that'd be awesome. My mentor gets agitated with me when he's writing some code, and I'm fussing over the spacing, or his typos. ^^ Ah, the luck of being an English person.

How about a spelling competition for build/programming crew. My team is English class impaired. XD

Gotta loved the techies.

Re: Programming Compatition
 

Yeah. If you want to use java use this program instead. Robocode

Re: Programming Compatition
 

How about we worry about programming the robot and just have one simple award for that?

Re: Programming Compatition
 

yeah, i think its a great idea. I think the more sub competitions there are the better. some teams are better mechanically than with programming and visa versa. i think it would be interesting and add another fun element to the competition.

Re: Programming Compatition
 

Um, this thread was started in August 2003. Which is why there's a lot of talk about PBASIC upthread.

The problem with a separate programming competition is that I don't know where I'd get the time to programming anything big that's not robot-related during build season (and I think I'm fairly typical here), and it's moderately difficult to just judge the robot's program.

Re: Programming Compatition
 

Autonomous Award :p