Trial Version Robots: Learning Simple Behaviors

In order to create a competitive robot jutsu I need to come up with a baseline for my robot design. The robots that I have previously coded was an introduction to Robocode, in order to become familiar with the basic Robocode mechanics. For a robot to be competitive, it should have strategy and countermeasures. Although I need to look at this more in depth as I progress with Robocode, looking at the pre-packaged Robocode Sample robots will hopefully shed some light on creating a competitive robot.

In this blog entry I will examine and offer my thoughts on 8 of the sample robots, these include; Walls, RamFire, SpinBot, Crazy, Fire, Sitting Duck, Corners, and Tracker. For each robot I will evaluate criteria based on:

1. Movement: How does the robot move? Does it have an avoidance or following strategy?
2. Targeting: How does it find a target to fire?
3. Firing: What is its criteria for firing?

Robot #1: Walls
Movement
Operates a very simple movement strategy that goes to the nearest wall, and just traces the wall. There is no follow strategy as this just traces the outline of the stage.The only avoidance strategy this robot exhibits is if it runs into another robot, if just reverses direction 100 pixels, and changes back to its original heading.

Targeting
Keeps gun perpendicular to the wall at all times. Only sees a target if one passes in the direction of its radar.

Firing
Fires with a power of 2 at any robot it sees.

Robot #2: RamFire
Movement
Probably the most blunt robot in movement. Rushes towards any robot it sees to point blank range in an attempt to ram it.

Targeting
This robot just rotates its whole body until it finds a target, does not go for any specific target or hold any targets in memory. Once it looses track of a target, has to swing its whole body to find another target. This is very inefficient since the robot is moving its body to scan, it will take a longer time rotating rather than just using the radar.

Firing
After it rushes to point blank range, fires the gun once it rams into another robot. The power of the shot is proportional to the enemy’s energy level. Essentially tries to out damage the target by ramming and shoot at the same time.

Robot #3: SpinBot
Movement
Spins in a clock-wise circle…that’s it. No avoidance or follow strategy whatsoever, but probably the most mesmerizing to watch. However, it does make it hard for other robots to shoot at it since it's in constant motion. Robots that are stationary have the hardest time against this robot.

Targeting
Keeps gun stationary at all times, only sees a target if one passes in the front of the radar.

Firing
Shoots at any target it sees, still going in a circle. Fires the gun as maximum power, so waiting for the gun to cool down to shoot again can be a problem if faced with multiple targets.

Robot #4: Crazy
Movement
Erratic and somewhat unpredictable movement. The robot makes a series of right and left turns as it moves ahead. If it hits a wall, reverses direction. This robot makes it hard to target as it keeps moving. I want to note that this robot is an AdvancedRobot, as coding an erratic behavior in a normal Robot would be difficult.

Targeting
Keeps gun stationary at all times, only sees a target if one passes in the front of the radar. This can be a problem if crazy is being followed as it can't see behind and even when it reverses direction, it doesn't turn around, just backs up.

Firing
Shoots at any target it sees, while in its obscure movements. Relies on the fact that a target will be seen, even while moving in obscure motions.

Robot #5: Fire
Movement
For the most part stays stationary, but if a robot gets too close, it moves away. Extremely vulnerable to robots that constantly move, as this robot stays still.

Targeting
Does not target any specific robot, just has its gun spinning all the time. This can be very inefficient as losing sight of a target will result in the robot doing a complete 360 to look for targets.

Firing
Shoots at any target it sees while spinning its gun. Depending on the range of the enemy and current energy, Fire will shoot either at maximum power (3) or just normal power of 1.

Robot #6: Sitting Duck
Movement
Does not move…at all. It may seem like it's waiting for the perfect moment to strike, but it does nothing.

Targeting
A very pacifist robot as it does not target anything.

Firing
Again with the pacifism, does not use its gun or shoot in anyway.

**The Gandhi of all sample robots, just counts the rounds and battles it’s been alive.

Robot #7: Corners
Movement
At the start of first battle, moves to the upper left corner. Stays stationary once it reaches a corner. If it died in the previous battle, will switch to another corner.

Targeting
Once in a corner, the robot continually robots the gun to scan for any targets. However, it does make use of the fact that it's in the corner. The robot does not spin it's gun a whole 360 degrees to scan for an enemy, a maximum of 90 degrees is only necessary.

Firing
Simply shoots at any robot it sees. Uses power proportional to distance, the closer the enemy, the stronger the shot. On the other hand, if current energy is low (> 15) then will use just a power of 1.

Robot #8: Tracker
Movement
Follows the first target it sees and sticks to it until itself or the target gets destroyed. If the target gets destroyed, the robot will find another. If the target is 150 pixels or more away, the robot encloses to 10 pixels. If the target is too close it will back-up. I've noticed that an "efficient" tracking method is to get within only 150 pixels of the enemy, this will keep the target in a larger radar scope without having the gun go a 360 every time it loses track because it's too close.

Targeting
At the beginning of the battle, the robot will rotate its gun until it finds a target. Tracks a single target until itself or the target gets destroyed. If the robot comes into contact with another, it will immediately make that robot its main target, and back up a little.

Firing
This robot only fires at others that have hit it.

My Thoughts
After reviewing these 8 sample robots, I sort of have an idea of different countermeasures that I could implement for simple robots. Some robots are very situational, taking RamFire as an example. In a huge brawl of multiple robots where endurance is key, RamFire is probably not the best choice to throw in, but for 1v1 it would probably perform the best.

I'm still on the fence about tracking robots. Although it seems like a cool idea to track and hunt down a robot, having a 1 track mind isn't always efficient. The really weird ones like SpinBot, Crazy, and Walls I think perform the best overall out of all the robots I've evaluated. The fact that the Corners robot stays stationary is just begging to be mass targeted.

As these robots are "sample" robots and aren't meant for competitive play, they still give you an idea of certain elements that you would want and not want in a robot.