Hey all. I'm not sure if I should have posted this in the lounge or not.

A friend told me about MIT's Battlecode competition. It's an AI programming competition.

It's nature and rules really interested me, and although I've never programmed AI before, I am really interested in joining it.

I know it's late for me to compete this year. I've majored in Robotics, so I have some basic AI knowledge, but since programming was my main passion, I went into mobile development, so my knowledge hasn't really improved.

My question is: is it worth the effort to train for it and apply next year? Will this competition help me with my AI skills? And do I have the skills for it?

Also, what do you think of this competition as a whole?

Never heard of it.

Never heard of it.

Linky.

I wanted to do it a few years ago, but couldn't get a team together. I think the idea is really cool, but it can be really challenging. I'd say you can learn a lot and it'll help your AI skills, but realize that in order to get a lot out of it, you have to put a lot into it.

The 2013 competition is still open. I've just registered, and am checking out the info now. Seems like it could be fun.

Never heard of it.

Linky.

I wanted to do it a few years ago, but couldn't get a team together. I think the idea is really cool, but it can be really challenging. I'd say you can learn a lot and it'll help your AI skills, but realize that in order to get a lot out of it, you have to put a lot into it.

The 2013 competition is still open. I've just registered, and am checking out the info now. Seems like it could be fun.

The problem is the deadline is for less than a month. And it is indeed very challenging. Just reading the rules and understanding them well might take that time. Most contestants have probably been preparing since last year. :/

The problem is I don't know how much I can put into it xD

But it really feels like it will scratch that itch I've been having for AI. I just don't know if something else might better. :P

yeah, it's probably too late for a winning entry. maybe I'll just try something super simple, like streaming a bunch of soldiers directly towards the enemy HQ. I'm bound to learn something...

I just know robocode...

This is a late reply, but I would recommend two things. Use the project and try it any way. No need to compete, you can just do it for yourself. Then, when next years comp roles around, you'll be far more prepared for it. Also if you start working with it, you can probably find other people examples and open source on the AI to learn more.

http://www.battlecode.org/contestants/releases/ - is a link to most of the content about it.

The link to game specs helps point out a better idea of what is happening. It also pointed out, that this is based off of the previous years competition, except that it expresses certain differences from it. I would presume that 2014 will do the same.