Java Final Project – Robocode

 

Competition Submission Date: Thursday, May 30th   Demonstration Dates:   Friday, May 31th Tuesday, June 4th – Period 2 & 6 Wednesday, June 5th – Periods 7

 

Objectives: This project is designed to teach you more familiarity with basic Java programming including using a Java API, inner classes, and event handling.

 

Requirements: Download Robocode and design your own battle robot. While you are free to be creative, you must address the following items somewhere in your design:

 

1.     You must implement your robot using the PartsBot structure.

2.  You must implement at least one basic game strategy for your robot. Some example strategies are robots that use advance targeting, robots that ram other robots, and robots that use walls and corners for cover.

3.     You must handle at least these four events: onScannedRobot, onHitByBullet, onHitRobot, onHitWall. Plan to take some reasonable action during these events. Do not leave the event handler empty.

4.     You must also plan to avoid the following undesirable situations: being hit by a bullet, being hit by another robot, and hitting a wall. If your basic strategy includes ramming other robots, then this situation clearly would not apply in your case. Otherwise, consider what actions you need to take to avoid these situations.

 

I will permit you to use code snippets from existing robots. However, you must reference all code that you borrow including code you write based on other robot’s code. In addition, you must also include the source of the referenced robot with your submission. This will allow me to ensure that you are reusing code snippets and not simply reusing existing robots. You can also expect that I will ask you to explain your code to me, so DO NOT REUSE CODE YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. If you cannot explain the logic of your code, I will deduct points from your project grade.

 

Demonstrations: During Finals, you will need to demonstrate and explain your program. Please make sure you have all of your java files and class files with you for you to do your demonstration. Make sure you are prepared to have your robot running at the time of your demonstration. Failure to be prepared for your demo will result in a grade reduction for the project.

 

Documentation: You do not need to generate Javadocs for your robot. Inline comments will be sufficient. However, please make sure these comments are meaningful and readable. I will inspect your source code to see how well you documented your robot.

Grading: The breakdown of the grading for this project is listed below. Note that 80% of your grade comes from the code inspection and the remaining 20% from your demonstration. You are permitted to modify your code after the competition submission. However, I will not remove any deductions for missing or broken functionality that you fix after your demo.

 

Functionality (implements the stated requirements) ........................         50%

Design (employs efficiency, creativity, and uniqueness)..................          20%

Demonstration (punctual and prepared).................….......................         20%

Documentation (comments, white space, readable style, etc.) .........         10%

 

Submission: Once your robot is complete, go under the Robot menu and select "Package robot for upload". In the resulting dialog make sure to include all the names of your group members. While you will not be graded on your robot 's performance in the tournament, you will be graded on the quality of your implementation. For example, if your robot gets stuck in a corner for 10 minutes, you will lose points. This will also include a code audit for commenting, design and other coding standards.

 

FAQ:

1.  Your robot must meet a minimum level of performance. This means that it must be able to beat all of the sample robots (including Walls) and HaveAtItBot.

 

2.  You cannot assume that the battlefield will be of a specific size. Your robot must adjust to all possible sizes. See the getBattleFieldWidth and getBattleFieldHeight methods for details.

 

3.  Names must be short and sweet as well as not containing any words that might offend the School. Names like

 

ThisBotIsTheCoolestAndWillOwnz0rAllOtherBotsInTheUniverse

 

will be disqualified. Use your common sense.

 

4.  You must manage your gun's heat! You can only fire your gun when the heat == 0. You will need to use the cooling rate and energy of each shot to manage the gun's heat.

 

5.  No overriding the onDeath method to do anything stupid. If you die, you die. You can't respawn, or pop up a window, or play some Windows sound. Same with onRobotDeath. Just don't interrupt the match to taunt the person you just killed and you will be fine.

 

6.  Inheriting from the AdvancedRobot class is mandatory since you will be implementing your robot as a PartsBot. Your robot may write to files to improve its AI. However, keep the writing to a minimum. If all the bots are spewing out tons of information, the battle will be very slow.

 

7.  Use the examples! While the example bots are pretty useless, each one implements a feature that might be of interest to you. Combine some of these together and you will get some useful behavior.