Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MIT Video Game Programming Competition in Java

Posted by Hemos on from the the-joys-of-battle dept.

A reader writes:"252 MIT students are spending the month of January writing Java programs to control virtual robots in a videogame environment called Robocraft. These virtual robots will battle each other for cash prizes in a tournament to see who can write the best Robocraft player. The competition is being sponsored by top tech companies including Bank of America, Electronic Arts, BBN, Schlumberger, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle. Only MIT students are eligible to compete, but anyone can read the specs, download the software, and program their own virtual robot using the Robocraft API."

21 comments

  1. TV Show by Lostie · · Score: 1

    Sounds like that UK TV show, Robot Wars.

    1. Re:TV Show by Dr.Opveter · · Score: 1

      except for robot wars has radio controlled robots fighting in a real arena.

      --
      Sample this!
    2. Re:TV Show by DingerX · · Score: 2, Informative

      sounds like that programming game.

  2. I wish i went to MIT by pluke · · Score: 1

    We have a 'similar' thing run here at the University of York UK, but instead of making robots fight we are designing Othello AI. And MIT prize funds of $13,000, i think i want to be sick.

    --
    "all through my house i set up traps, it seems like the rats have a map, so now i feed the rats crack" - Donald D
    1. Re:I wish i went to MIT by thefirelane · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And MIT prize funds of $13,000, i think i want to be sick.

      How much does tuition cost you over there in the UK?

    2. Re:I wish i went to MIT by pluke · · Score: 1

      touche We are approaching £3,000 tuition fees plus £3,600 loan, each year, but i feel that doesn't touch on the USA. What do you guys have to fork out?

      --
      "all through my house i set up traps, it seems like the rats have a map, so now i feed the rats crack" - Donald D
    3. Re:I wish i went to MIT by ferr0x · · Score: 2, Funny

      My college also did a tournament type thing using alpha beta AI with 3D (4x4) tic-tac-toe. the prize for the winner was an A+ on the final. screw money.

    4. Re:I wish i went to MIT by Bastian · · Score: 1

      It varies from school to school, so I can't speak for anyone else, but my comprehensive fee (room and board included) was about $24,000 annually. I don't remember how much of that was tuition.

    5. Re:I wish i went to MIT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Say ... I was thinking about applying to York as its considered to be a good school for CS. I'm applying as an International student.
      Tell me , if I joing an MPhil course, can I take a few taught subjects ?

    6. Re:I wish i went to MIT by Dougie+Cool · · Score: 0

      And $13,000 is only half that in sterling, anyway. Still, it's two years of education paid for if you win.

      --
      ~~Every few years or so I'm accidentally fashionable!
    7. Re:I wish i went to MIT by smithmc · · Score: 1


      At my alma mater, tuition is now a hair under $25K per year. When I started there in 1987, it was $9500. Room & board can be as high as $9000/year (it was $2K/year for room only back when I was in school).

      --
      Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
    8. Re:I wish i went to MIT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Approximately $6,500 USD/year when I was a student at the University of Texas in Austin (public college, with the resident rate tuition).

      Room cost me about the same amount (not including food + entertainment).

  3. Robocode by Tr0mBoNe- · · Score: 3, Informative

    this sounds like Robocode from IBM, http://www.robocode.net has a large following. We used this in my 1st year as a programming project. My friend's was powerful... it would learn you and never loose.

    it's not hard to do. There is a set API, and everything is there. It's like lego,... which makes it fun too.

    --
    while(1) { fork(); };
  4. Bytecode Clock by dolmen.fr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One particular feature of the game rules is that time is measured by counting executed bytecodes. So we can expect that contestants will aim to produce very efficient code.

    Do you know any Java compiler benchmark that compares generated bytecode?

  5. Robocode is also good by tod_miller · · Score: 1

    IBM's robocode is the same deal. IBM has a great tutorial introduction, teaching Java through the application of these interfaces.

    I am of course happy to see more of such programs, and with the MIT name behind it, perhaps it will inspire some perl hackers to get involved in *duck* a *duck* real *duck* programming *duck, ouch* language.... :-)

    I love the way these robot challenges express the ideas of OO so well! I am entering my 32.6mb robot which has enhanced path finding, fuzzy logic, target identification, runs its own internal byte code sniffers, and a few JNI calls to terminate any other java processes. It is a sith robot of course! *vroom ksssszzzwwww pow pow*.

    I just gotta check the rule book before I submit... :-)

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  6. Omega by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    am i the only one who purchased this game as a kid?

    http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,1634/

  7. Not really NEWs by ShadowcatBlue · · Score: 1

    This isn't really new in any way. MIT has been doing this every January for the past few years.

    They've also been doing a lego robotics competition every January as well. This involves electronics (for sensors), programming (robots need to be autonomous), and "mechanical" design (building the actual bot out of legos!).

    1. Re:Not really NEWs by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

      If they really want to make the game worthwhile, why not license an engine through Id Software and use a cheaper quake3 renderer to program a game. Writing a java game isn't going to get it much acceptance. MIT just don't know how to use student's time. They mind as well have them write an ascii game in Perl.

    2. Re:Not really NEWs by cknight52 · · Score: 1

      I disagree. I don't think that the point of the assignment is totally game related, it's just one way to use java. Although using a game specific language may be "cooler", using java makes more sense in the usefulness category.

      Assuming these students all go on to graduate, I would assume a great many of them who end up programming would be using a language such as java versus a very small percentage actually programming using a game specific language.

  8. Microsoft Game Programming Contest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft is having its own game programming contest. They've created the board, and you have to program the creatures for it and see who's survives the longest. There's all sorts of prizes including XBox's. Here's the link.