AI

Discussions around autonomous, semi-automatic and intelligent robots and systems.

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Knappster
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AI

Post by Knappster »

To what extent would AI be allowed in an ant i.e. would a completely AI controlled ant be acceptable?

Apart from taking the fun and skill away from the game, I think AI could help with things like weapons control etc...

Or on the more extreme, cluster bots could work with each other using AI and only a "master" bot would have radio control.

What do you guys think?
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Simon Windisch
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Post by Simon Windisch »

As far as I know there is nothing against any amount of AI in an antweight. In fact, I would be one to encourage it, as it will eventually get us more kudos with the "proper roboteers". As well as make it more interesting.

I would have added AI to my own robots, if I knew how!

Simon
Adam Hargreaves
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Post by Adam Hargreaves »

For my A-level I'm building an Autonomous Ant, for the purposes of driving practice. Weight is gonna be an issue, but if I can get it vanguely near 150g, I'll be showcasing it at AWS19 (complete with at least it's ramming bar weapon)
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BeligerAnt
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Post by BeligerAnt »

I think an effective AI antweight is a tall order at the moment!

Currently it's hard enough (at the hobbyist level) to produce a good autonomous sumo robot or maze-navigating "mouse" - even given a weight limit of 500g or more.

Someone tried an automatic weapon on a heavyweight and it was probably less effective than an operator-controlled weapon.

Don't let me put you off though, I never said it couldn't be done! There are certainly no rules against it and I would also encourage it.

For anyone interested in autonomous fighting robots I would suggest mini-sumo is the way to go. 4" footprint and 500g weight limit so not so far removed from ants. There is also some support in the UK already:

http://www.minisumo.org.uk
http://www.robotbuilder.co.uk (look on their forum)
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Knappster
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Post by Knappster »

omg check these out, its called PICAXE. They are the cheapest microcontrollers (that are actually easy to program) i've ever seen.

http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/

I've ordered the 8 pin version to try it out, it only cost me ?13 inc. vat & p&p.
Comes with the development board, software, battery box, a PICAXE-8 and programming cable.

The PICAXE-18 has direct servo control capabilities.

I can't believe I haven't seen these before, I've heard of the BASIC stamp and normal PIC's etc.. but these are so cheap and easy to use. You can program them in-circuit so you don't have to dismantle your ant everytime you wanna change the code.
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Craig_Anto3
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Post by Craig_Anto3 »

dont have to dissmantle? wheres the fun in that :P

PICAXE has been around for a while i tried a simple project but i have what is commonly know as ''idiots syndrome'' or ''fat fingers'' that coupled with the fact i had no idea what i was doing lead to the likely conclusion i'm leting someone else do the work
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Knappster
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Post by Knappster »

I'm alright I got a National Diploma in Electronic Engineering sitting behind me. Only major problem I've found with the PICAXE is the very limited program space. But this can be overcome by attaching a EEPROM to it.
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olivers
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Post by olivers »

with the larger picaxe's I think you get around 400 lines of code. I have a few 28A's kicking around and I could easily make an AI pushing ant in 150g. if would be slightly harder with a weapon.

I would say asn AI ant would be allowed 225g limit rather than 150g, this is just me though as people need incentives to build one.
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petec
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Post by petec »

Depends what the weapon was :-)

The code limits are the biggest restriction on Picaxe's - especially for any kind of AI...even keeping it on the arena will take a bit more than 400 lines of code I would guess. Probably end up with one processer per wheel. The weapon is easy enough with either a microswitch sensor or a light sensor to see when you are near something....so you hit the arena a few times, who cares!!! :D
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Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

AI ants in america have their own catagory (www.buildersdb.com for more info). I think they get a slightly higher weight limit dont they?
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