WrathOfPele simply switches directions if and when she hits another robot. WrathOfPele doesnвЂ™t use any advanced strategy for avoiding contact with other robots. If an enemy has fired at you, switch which directions youвЂ™re moving, and there is a good chance that youвЂ™ll move out of the way before the bullet hits you. This is especially useful against robots that use predictive targeting which attempt to predict where a target will be based on itвЂ™s speed and bearing. Whenever WrathOfPele detects a drop in energy from the enemy robot, an enemyFired event is fired and she switches which direction she is currently moving making it difficult for the enemy robot to hit her with its bullets. Next, WrathOfPele continually tracks the enemy robot, scanning its energy level. This is shown in the following screenshot. This means that the body of the tank turns to be perpendicular to the enemy robot. First she squares off against the enemy robot. When WrathOfPele scanвЂ™s an enemy robot, she makes two types of movements. This problem used to be much moreВ prevalent, but now WrathOfPele attempted to randomize its movements away from the walls so that it shouldnвЂ™t get stuck in anВ oscillatingВ cycle. When this happens, WrathOfPele will try switching directions over and over again as it quickly enters and leaves the wall danger proximity bounces between the two walls connected at the corner. This happens when WrathOfPele breaches the proximity of the safe distance near a corner at an angle. In rare situations, WrathOfPele will get stuck at one of the corners. The following screenshot and illustration shows the boundaries that WrathOfPele attempts to stay within at all times. This allows WrathOfPele to easily manage its movement based on the current state of the robot, either safe or close to a wall. WrathOfPele than fires a second event once she is a safe distance from all four walls. If WrathOfPele comes within a dangerous distance to one of the four walls, an event is fired which causes her to switch directions and move in the opposite direction away from the wall. To implement wall avoidance, I created a custom event system which fires two types of events. Since WrathOfPeleвЂ™s movements are highly random, we want to allow her to move about the playing field without worrying whether or not sheвЂ™ll run into a wall. For example, if WrathOfPele getвЂ™s too close to a wall, we can simply switch which direction she thinks is forward, and the next movement WrathOfPele makes will be away from the wall. This strategy is useful in wall avoidance. This means that WrathOfPele never has to turn 360вЂ™s around to continue calling ahead and go the opposite direction. The way WrathOfPele moves in reverse is by switching which direction WrathOfPele thinks is forward. Anytime WrathOfPele moves, the only method that is called is tAhead(). WrathOfPele has the ability to switch which direction it thinks is forward. This makes it difficult for enemy robots to fire at and track WrathOfPele. The distance it moves and the amount it turns is completely random. If WrathOfPeleвЂ™s velocity comes close to stopping, then the robot will move ahead and turn at the same time causing it to move in an arc. WrathOfPeleвЂ™s movement is based off of moving in random arcs and also highly dependent on custom events. The movement of a robot allows it to get intoВ offensiveВ positions, move out of the way of danger, and confuse the targeting of enemy robots. Basic movement is one of the most important things to get right for a Robocode robot. Robots can move in any direction for any amount of distance. I will finally discuss my testing strategies for this project and also reflect on lessons learned. I will also discuss the results of pitting my robot against eight of the sample robots included in Robocode. In this post, I hope to outline the offensive and defensive capabilities of WrathOfPele focusing on movement, targeting, and firing. My competitive robot, WrathOfPele, although not as ferocious as the fires of Kilauea, still has a nice set of abilities that make it a contender in the Robocode world.

Pele (pronounced вЂњpay-layвЂќ), is considered in Hawaiian mythology to be the goddess of fire, lighting, wind, and volcanoes. IвЂ™m happy to announce that IвЂ™ve completed development of my first Robocode competitive robot, WrathOfPele.

In a previous entry, I gave an introduction to what Robocode is and outlined a few ideas for a competitive robot.

Best robocode strategy