micromouse

I think that the whole point is that you are expected to work it out for yourself. Forget the internet, go back and actually think about the problem. When you have an idea, try it out by simulating on a pc or pencil and paper, or take some people and give them instructions on what to do as virtual automata.

Many of us have more fun working out an algorithm than actually building something !

Dave

Old joke (and I'm terrible at telling jokes so I beg your indulgence):

A physicist, an engineer, and a mathematician walk into a bar ... By last call, they're all pretty well lubricated and stagger up to their rooms to collapse into bed. By sheer coincidence, all three were smokers and all three flicked their last cigarette butts into the bedside trash bin before passing out.

Shortly thereafter we hear the sounds of three smoke alarms.

The physicist rolls over and through bleary eyes estimates the rate of combustion, the mass and dispersion of the fuel, and, remembering the specific heat of water and its density, dumps 236 ml of water onto the flames from the pitcher on his nightstand. The fire goes out; he goes back to sleep.

The engineer lifts an eyelid and barely manages to reach over to the pitcher of water, which seems to be spinning around the room. He applies a generally accepted rule of thumb and dumps the whole pitcher onto the fire before rolling over and falling asleep again.

The mathematician raises up on one elbow and rapidly (if somewhat painfully) solves a few coupled differential equations relating to heat transfer and reaction rates. After applying a bit of elementary geometry to estimate the volume of water in the pitcher he happily exclaims "A solution exists!", and, now satisfied, falls back onto the bed and to sleep where he died ten minutes later from smoke inhalation.

#Disclaimer: I tend to fall into the latter category myself!

Try googling for "maze solving algorithm".

-- D. Jay Newman

Check out Peter Harrison's site at micromouse.cannock.ac.uk

There you'll find a great deal of interesting and useful information on all aspects of MicroMouse design and implementation, including the analysis of several maze solving algorithms.

-- Mark "I prefer heaven for climate, hell for company."

----- Original Message ----- From: "Anshat" Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 1:30 AM Subject: micromouse