5th Gear AI

[Bjenks548]

Hey blake, I know you guys are working really hard on this. Just wondering if you had an eta of the release date? Also thanks for all the time and effort you and the rest of the 5th gear team put into this.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Bjenks548

Hey blake, I know you guys are working really hard on this. Just wondering if you had an eta of the release date? Also thanks for all the time and effort you and the rest of the 5th gear team put into this.

This weekend?

We are inches away from having our core feature list implemented and we are trying to sand enough rough edges off of that for it to be releaseable. Don't hold us to it; but we would like to upload something you can download during this weekend (Remember that 11:59 Sunday night (in Hawaii (are there any teams between HI and the Intl Date Line?)) is still part of this weekend ).

There certainly will still be some rough edges, nice-to-have features that aren't in, and robot controls that will deserve further tuning (to get them to feel "right"); but the initial release should be playable and should be mature enough to help folks start getting useful insights into gameplay pacing, strategy, scouting, etc.

Blake

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gblake

This weekend?

We are inches away from having our core feature list implemented and we are trying to sand enough rough edges off of that for it to be releasable. Don't hold us to it; but we would like to upload something you can download during this weekend (Remember that 11:59 Sunday night (in Hawaii (are there any teams between HI and the Intl Date Line?)) is still part of this weekend ).

There certainly will still be some rough edges, nice-to-have features that aren't in, and robot controls that will deserve further tuning (to get them to feel "right"); but the initial release should be playable and should be mature enough to help folks start getting useful insights into game play pacing, strategy, scouting, etc.

Blake

I apologize for the dripping faucet torture - Software deadlines are slippery beasts. One bit can spell the difference between glory and ... (not glory). We are delayed.

The graphics-model importer part of our XNA game engine, decided it didn't like the sexy Field model this year's graphics artist created for us; and it wasn't very helpful about explaining what it didn't like. While that is being investigated, I am creating a simpler model (I hope) using Google SketchUp.

FYI - SketchUp could be great. But it isn't yet. It's not my favorite CAD/Drawing tool, but it does produce collada and KMZ files.

FYI - The entire path from drawing tool outputs to model formats XNA and DirectX will render properly is a royal annoyance. If any of you ever go down this same sort of path, assume that the 3D modeling and game-engine industries are highly fractured markets and plan accordingly. Conversion utilities are great - when they work....

Stay tuned while we get past this pot hole.

Blake (sleep deprived) Ross

PS: Thank You volunteers - In the not too distant future, I'll definitely PM everyone who offered to help.

[Bjenks548]

Hey Blake I know you guys are still stressing do we have a new estimated date that it will come out?

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Bjenks548

Hey Blake I know you guys are still stressing do we have a new estimated date that it will come out?

We are still working with our sexy-field artist to successfully import his nice looking field.

Although I had never used SketchUp before, I created a field using SketchUP (I would have preferred SolidWorks, but need a quick, low-risk alternative that could create files we could eventually get into FBX format). The field looks OK in SketchUp, but the colors go haywire by the time we get to an FBX format.

So I'm going to stay up tonight rebuilding the field model - hopefully with fewer noob mistakes - we will convert it into an FBX tomorrow and see what we have. If it's good we will give FIRST and LM HQ a chance to look for anything they want changed and then publish to the world.

The rules are all in pretty good shape, the robot motions need some focused tuning, and I keep reading things here on Chief Delphi that make me want to change some of the Human Player code I wrote, but... It's time wrestle with SketchUp for a while again.

If I have a warm fuzzy feelng when I finish tonight, and if I'm not completely worn out, I'll post a picture here.

Thanks for your patience.

Blake
PS: If I didn't think thousands of students and mentors weren't working as hard or harder all over the FIRST landscape, I would look for some sympathy. I guess I'll just have to suck it and get to work.

[Chris is me]

If you need an advance beta tester, hit me up!

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gblake

... if I'm not completely worn out, I'll post a picture here. ...

Attached - This is a JPEG from the model I handed over to a colleague at LM's Marietta, GA site. He will convert the model into an FBX and then we will see what happens next - Blake

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gblake

Attached - This is a JPEG from the model I handed over to a colleague at LM's Marietta, GA site. He will convert the model into an FBX and then we will see what happens next - Blake

The graphics saga continues - I am looking for help from someone who has a copy of SketchUp Pro (See here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=92776 ) Anyone know someone who has a SketchUp Pro license, an email accout, and a 30 minutes of free time?

Blake

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gblake

The graphics saga continues - I am looking for help from someone who has a copy of SketchUp Pro (See here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=92776 ) Anyone know someone who has a SketchUp Pro license, an email account, and a 30 minutes of free time?

Blake

With some help from Chris Picone (Chris Is Me) and my colleague David Dobbs, and some Google searching, I think I know what is causing the graphics model problems and how to (tediously) fix them.

The symptoms are consistent with me (a SketchUp noob) getting some (many) of my model's faces flipped around backward.

That SketchUp or it's introductory help materials aren't a little less silent on this subject is something I'll grumble about for a while, but the good news is that I'm optimistic that I/we can fix the problems and push out a good model in fairly short order.

So, let's not count our chickens before they hatch, but I am optimistic.

If anyone wants to learn more about the problem/solution, post a request.

Blake

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gblake

The graphics saga continues - I am looking for help from someone who has a copy of SketchUp Pro (See here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=92776 ) Anyone know someone who has a SketchUp Pro license, an email account, and a 30 minutes of free time?

Blake

With some help from Chris Picone (Chris Is Me) and my colleague David Dobbs, and some Google searching, I think I know what is causing the graphics model problems and how to (tediously) fix them.

The symptoms are consistent with me (a SketchUp noob) getting some (many) of my model's faces flipped around backward.

That SketchUp or it's introductory help materials aren't a little less silent on this subject is something I'll grumble about for a while, but the good news is that I'm optimistic that I/we can fix the problems and push out a good model in fairly short order.

So, let's not count our chickens before they hatch, but I am optimistic.

If anyone wants to learn more about the problem/solution, post a request.

Blake

[pmax]

Looking forward to the updates. Please count me in as a beta tester.
-Pete

[gblake]

Much has changed since I last updated this thread. The biggest change is that Lockheed Martin and I parted a couple of months ago.

Topic #1:
I wrote much of the 5th Gear "AI" code I was developing on my own time; but I also wrote some of it while on the clock for LM. Consequently I left it all with LM, and without special action on LM's part, I can't continue that project.

LM might choose to release an 5th Gear Client/Server interface spec; and if they do I/we could rewrite the boring AI-Client interface code, and then expose an easy-to-use/customize interface for just the AI part of an AI client.

Or... the LM folks might release an easy to use client that exposes the interface AI developers need.

Let's see how many folks request that interface spec/code, and see how the folks at LM are able to respond.

Topic #2:
The game at the links below look like fun ways for anyone who has an itch to create a fully autonomous FRC/VRC/FTC bot to cut their teeth in a simplified environment.

Walking before running is generally a good idea...
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/codeinvaders
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/coderally
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/coderuler

I thinking about giving them a try. I have downloaded a Java Developers version of the Eclipse Platform, and I have downloaded the IBM Games software.

If I make any headway getting them to run, and if they truly are fun to use; maybe we can run a few tournaments to see who is the CD user with the strongest AI Kung Fu.

Running a tournament or two at the VRC Worlds and the FIRST Worlds might even catch on as annual event (given that we can continue scrounging up new games to use (MIT has created a few...)).

Blake

[gblake]

I got the CodeInvaders game to work and it looks like it is worth taking the next step.

Is there anyone out there who would like to volunteer to set up a stable tournament server (or find a trustworthy existing public instance)?

Blake

[whackedwatchdog]

I downloaded it, and took a look. It actually looks quite promising; I was able to get something flying within a matter of minutes, and something capable of "excelling" within an hour or so. The sky really is the limit, though. Thanks for posting that, it'll give me something to do for a few days!