& News About Upcoming Races
August 21, 1995
RARS is the Robot Auto Racing Simulation, a competition for
programmers and an on-going challenge for practicioners of Artificial
Intelligence and real-time adaptive optimal control. It consists of
a simulation of the physics of cars racing on a track, a graphic
display of the race, and a separate control program (robot "driver")
for each car. All RARS software and activities are free and open to
the public. It runs on DOS, Windows, OS/2, UNIX, Linux, and several
other platforms. For more information e-mail to m...@cac.psu.edu.
Contents
Authors Point Standings
Upcoming Races
August 20 Competitors
August 20 Race Commentary
August 20 Race Report
solo speeds
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Expert Class Point standings
Randy Saint 49 pts (U.S.A.) Ramdu
Jussi Pajala 31 pts (Finland) WappuCar & Bubble
Safai Ma 31 pts (Canada) Burns
Mike Inman 22 pts (U.S.A.) Indretti
Jeremy Weatherford 14 pts (U.S.A.) JXBot
Nicole Greiber 11 pts (Germany) Marvin
Bill Benedict 10 pts (U.S.A.) Rusty
Tim Battersby 10 pts (Canada) Emily
Oscar Gustafsson 10 pts (Sweden) OscCar2
Muir Lee Harding 6 pts (U.S.A.) racer_X
Tony Cabe 4 pts (U.S.A.) Bacon
Daniel Ash 3 pts (U.S.A.) Sarah
George Doster 2 pts (U.S.A.) JayMan1
Nathaniel Thurston 2 pts (U.S.A.) Phase
Novice Class Points:
Tristrom Cooke 13 pt (Australia) Bingo1
Grant Reeve 11 pts (New Zealand) Piranha
Carl Burke 8 pts (U.S.A.) Blender2
Patrick Tierney 5 pts (Canada) Heath2
Robert Skupinski 5 pts (U.S.A.) Carski
Dennis Lew 4 pts (Canada) Menace
Larry Ludwick 3 pts (U.S.A.) MyHearse
Thomas Rooney 2 pts (U.S.A.) goCART
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The Next Three RARS Race Meets
September 3:
No. of races 2 novice and 2 expert
Tracks: S1.TRK and S2.TRK, one race on each
Laps: 80 each race
Software version: 0.63b (or latest variant of 0.60)
Surface Type: 1
no practice, random starting order.
September 17 and October 1:
Stock Car Races!
All entries will be variations of the file STOCKER.CPP which
will be on the ftp site within 24 hrs. The only permissible
variations are changes to the value of any numbers appearing in
the source file, both integers and floating point. The driver is
essentially the Arelys robot with the passing code from JackBot.
(Carski in the Aug. 6 race was like that.) The present set of
experts will continue as the expert class.
No. of races: 4 novice and 4 expert
Track: V03.TRK and TIMIN.TRK, 2 races each
Laps: 25 each race
Software version: 0.63b (or latest variant of 0.60)
Surface type: 0
default starting order system.
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Competitors, August 20 Novice Class:
Robert Skupinski U.S.A. Carski
Tony Cabe U.S.A. Bacon
Daniel Ash U.S.A. Sarah
Dennis Lew Canada Menace
Larry Ludwick U.S.A. MyHearse
Competitors, August 20, Expert Class:
Safai Ma Canada Burns
Jussi Pajala Finland Bubble
Randy Saint U.S.A. Ramdu
Mike Inman U.S.A. Indretti
Bill Benedict U.S.A. Rusty
Nicole Greiber Germany Marvin
Jeremy Weatherford U.S.A. JXBot3
Daniel Ash U.S.A. Sarah (made expert today)
Tony Cabe U.S.A. Bacon (made expert today)
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Race Commentary by M. Timin
The play-by-play description of each race is very time and space
consuming, so I will give that only for the 1st and 6th expert races.
In any case it's impossible to really describe all of the action.
There was a lot of passing and re-passing during all of the expert races,
and many duels for a spot near the front. Sometimes a fast driver will
get confused by the traffic and go into the dirt briefly, losing a
position or two.
The expert races were dominated by Randy Saint's Ramdu robot. When
luck gave him a favored starting position he could not be caught.
When he didn't start in front he was often able to catch and pass
the slower cars. Ramdu took first place in 4 out of the 6 races.
For the most part the solo speed capabilities predicted the final
outcome. (see solo speeds below) Bubble was an exception, doing
much less well than his speed capability would predict. He appears
to be an over-cautious driver.
Ramdu was surpisingly faster than the others. Observing the cars it
was clear that Ramdu's technique was unique. He appears to keep to
the extreme outside on the straights, then throw the car into a wild
skid when nearing the curve, diving toward the inner rail. He would
stay close to the inner rail for a large part of the curve, but then
drift to the outside when nearing the straight.
The type 0 surface that we use for the oval track is supposed to
simulate a loose surface. It is interesting to note that real drivers
who compete on loose surfaces use a similar driving technique.
1st Expert Race:
row 1 - Ramdu
row 2 - Rusty, Indretti, Sarah, JXBot
row 3 - Marvin, Bubble, Bacon, Burns
Surprisingly, Ramdu didn't take advantage of his favored starting
position as Indretti and Sarah dove into the turn inside of him.
Leaving the 1st turn it was Sarah in the lead, followed by JXBot,
Rusty, Ramdu and Indretti. JXBot and Sarah tangled before the 2nd
turn and Sara went into the dirt on the inside, letting JXBot take
the lead, followed by Rusty. Rusty held the other cars back during
the turn, letting JXBot increase his lead. After one lap its JXBot,
Rusty, Ramdu, Indretti & Marvin. A close fight for second ensues
with Rusty, Bacon, Indretti and Burns all within half a car length of
each other. Burns manages to get the inside on the next curve and
finishes lap two in second spot, followed by Rusty, Bacon, Indretti
and Ramdu. Bacon passes Rusty on the next turn, to reach 3rd. Ramdu
works his way forward, dueling briefly with Indretti and Rusty before
snaring the 4th postition. After 4 laps Burns has almost caught
JXBot, while Ramdu nips at Bacon's Bacon. Ramdu grabs the inside
from Bacon and passes him as they near the end of lap 5. After
another lap it's Burns, Ramdu and JXBot close together, with Bacon a
couple of lengths behind. Indretti, Sarah, Bubble, Rusty and Marvin
are well back. Ramdu can't be stopped, and eventually passes Burns
for the lead. Burns slows way down for several seconds, allowing JX
and Bacon to pass him. With one lap remaining it's Ramdu, JX, Bacon,
Burns, Indretti, Sarah, Bubble, Rusty and Marvin. Bacon and JXBot
duel for 2nd during the lap, but JXBot keeps ahead by 1/2 a car
length to retain 2nd place.
6th Expert Race:
row 1 - Burns
row 2 - Sarah, Bubble, Marvin, Indretti
row 3 - Bacon, JXbot, Rusty, Ramdu
Burns grabbed the lead, making use of his lucky position. Indretti,
not going straight at the start, caused a tangle. Escaping into
second place was Bubble, followed by Marvin, Sarah and Bacon. Coming
out of the 1st turn they are all very close. Sarah slips by on the
inside to grab 2nd place in the 2nd turn. Coming out of the turn
its Burns, Sarah, Bubble, Bacon, JXBot, Ramdu, Marvin, Indretti and
Rusty. Bubble and JXBot slip behind in the traffic of the next turn
leaving Burns, Sara, Bacon and Ramdu in the lead. Burns extends his
lead while Sara, Bacon and Ramdu fight for 2nd. Indretti has pulled
into a strong 5th spot. They continue this way for a couple of laps,
until Ramdu and Bacon slow each other down allowing Sarah a good grip
on second place. Ramdu gets ahead of Bacon, but Sarah turns out to be
hard to pass. As they complete the 6th lap its Burns, Sarah, Ramdu,
Bacon, Bubble, Indretti, JXBot3, Marvin and Rusty. Sarah leads Ramdu
by only half a car length. Bubble and Indretti are in a duel for
5th, passing and re-passing. Although Ramdu's top speed is faster
than Sarah's, her trajectory seems to be just right to prevent Ramdu
from passing. During the ninth lap he cuts ahead on the inside of a
turn, then goes wide and she re-passes coming out of the turn. Bacon
is very close behind them until the finish, with Sarah only about 2
feet ahead of Ramdu. The finishing order is Burns, Sarah, Ramdu,
Bacon, Indretti, Bubble, JXBot, Marvin and Rusty.
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The August 20 Results:
NOVICES:
5 cars for 10 laps. The track was oval2.trk. The drivers were:
Carski, MyHearse, Bacon, Menace, and Sarah.
The initial RVG seed was 18737.
results of race 1:
starting positions:
Menace, MyHearse, Sarah, Carski, and Bacon.
1 Bacon avg spd 72 10 laps 0 damage 139 fuel 10 pts accum
2 Sarah avg spd 70.54 10 laps 342 damage 138 fuel 6 pts accum
3 Menace avg spd 69.89 9 laps 2598 damage 140 fuel 4 pts accum
4 MyHearse avg spd 67.72 9 laps 960 damage 140 fuel 3 pts accum
5 Carski avg spd 67.57 9 laps 669 damage 140 fuel 2 pts accum
results of race 2:
starting positions:
Bacon, Carski, Sarah, MyHearse, and Menace.
1 Bacon avg spd 70.77 10 laps 3656 damage 139 fuel 20 pts accum
2 Sarah avg spd 70.36 10 laps 3133 damage 138 fuel 12 pts accum
3 Menace avg spd 69.7 9 laps 2038 damage 140 fuel 8 pts accum
4 MyHearse avg spd 67.82 9 laps 339 damage 139 fuel 6 pts accum
5 Carski avg spd 67.7 9 laps 117 damage 140 fuel 4 pts accum
results of race 3:
starting positions:
MyHearse, Bacon, Menace, Sarah, and Carski.
1 Bacon avg spd 71.91 10 laps 356 damage 139 fuel 30 pts accum
2 Sarah avg spd 70.2 10 laps 2680 damage 138 fuel 18 pts accum
3 Menace avg spd 69.59 9 laps 3801 damage 140 fuel 12 pts accum
4 Carski avg spd 67.66 9 laps 904 damage 140 fuel 7 pts accum
5 MyHearse avg spd 67.77 9 laps 539 damage 139 fuel 8 pts accum
results of race 4:
starting positions:
Carski, Sarah, Menace, Bacon, and MyHearse.
1 Bacon avg spd 71.94 10 laps 386 damage 139 fuel 40 pts accum
2 Sarah avg spd 70.6 10 laps 1258 damage 138 fuel 24 pts accum
3 Menace avg spd 69.96 9 laps 3450 damage 140 fuel 16 pts accum
4 MyHearse avg spd 67.76 9 laps 1189 damage 140 fuel 11 pts accum
5 Carski avg spd 67.86 9 laps 1167 damage 140 fuel 9 pts accum
results of race 5:
starting positions:
Menace, MyHearse, Carski, Bacon, and Sarah.
1 Sarah avg spd 70.6 10 laps 0 damage 138 fuel 34 pts accum
2 Bacon avg spd 70.61 10 laps 3577 damage 139 fuel 46 pts accum
3 Menace avg spd 69.38 9 laps 5686 damage 140 fuel 20 pts accum
4 MyHearse avg spd 67.72 9 laps 627 damage 139 fuel 14 pts accum
5 Carski avg spd 67.54 9 laps 1096 damage 140 fuel 11 pts accum
results of race 6:
starting positions:
Sarah, Bacon, Carski, MyHearse, and Menace.
1 Bacon avg spd 72.04 10 laps 384 damage 139 fuel 56 pts accum
2 Sarah avg spd 70.62 10 laps 343 damage 138 fuel 40 pts accum
3 Menace avg spd 70.01 9 laps 363 damage 140 fuel 24 pts accum
4 MyHearse avg spd 67.82 9 laps 391 damage 139 fuel 17 pts accum
5 Carski avg spd 67.62 9 laps 624 damage 140 fuel 13 pts accum
EXPERTS:
9 cars for 10 laps. The track was oval2.trk. The drivers were:
Indretti, Rusty, Marvin, Burns, Ramdu, Bubble, Bacon, Sarah,
and JXBot3.
The initial RVG seed was 36065.
results of race 1:
starting positions:
Burns, Bacon, Bubble, Marvin, JXBot3, Sarah, Indretti, Rusty,
and Ramdu.
1 Ramdu avg spd 70.92 10 laps 6478 damage 136 fuel 10 pts accum
2 JXBot3 avg spd 70.27 10 laps 4706 damage 138 fuel 6 pts accum
3 Bacon avg spd 70.57 9 laps 3669 damage 139 fuel 4 pts accum
4 Burns avg spd 70.28 9 laps 15674 damage 140 fuel 3 pts accum
5 Indretti avg spd 68.91 9 laps 7540 damage 137 fuel 2 pts accum
6 Sarah avg spd 68.52 9 laps 23876 damage 138 fuel 1 pts accum
7 Bubble avg spd 68.89 9 laps 3959 damage 139 fuel 0 pts accum
8 Rusty avg spd 67.45 9 laps 3913 damage 142 fuel 0 pts accum
9 Marvin avg spd 67.49 9 laps 13629 damage 139 fuel 0 pts accum
results of race 2:
starting positions:
Ramdu, Rusty, Indretti, Sarah, JXBot3, Marvin, Bubble, Bacon,
and Burns.
1 Burns avg spd 72.47 10 laps 2594 damage 139 fuel 13 pts accum
2 Ramdu avg spd 69.94 10 laps 16860 damage 136 fuel 16 pts accum
3 Indretti avg spd 69.7 9 laps 3803 damage 137 fuel 6 pts accum
4 Bacon avg spd 69.05 9 laps 18473 damage 139 fuel 7 pts accum
5 Sarah avg spd 68.59 9 laps 9991 damage 138 fuel 3 pts accum
6 Bubble avg spd 67.81 9 laps 7285 damage 139 fuel 1 pts accum
7 Rusty avg spd 66.44 9 laps 18379 damage 142 fuel 0 pts accum
8 Marvin avg spd 64.77 9 laps 5540 damage 139 fuel 0 pts accum
9 JXBot3 avg spd 66.33 8 laps 30277 damage 139 fuel 6 pts accum
results of race 3:
starting positions:
Indretti, JXBot3, Marvin, Sarah, Bacon, Rusty, Bubble, Burns,
and Ramdu.
1 Ramdu avg spd 75.02 10 laps 580 damage 136 fuel 26 pts accum
2 Bacon avg spd 71.87 10 laps 851 damage 139 fuel 13 pts accum
3 Sarah avg spd 70.24 9 laps 5310 damage 138 fuel 7 pts accum
4 Burns avg spd 70.28 9 laps 14390 damage 141 fuel 16 pts accum
5 JXBot3 avg spd 69.74 9 laps 10830 damage 138 fuel 8 pts accum
6 Indretti avg spd 69.69 9 laps 7025 damage 137 fuel 7 pts accum
7 Marvin avg spd 68.89 9 laps 1821 damage 139 fuel 0 pts accum
8 Bubble avg spd 68.72 9 laps 3045 damage 140 fuel 1 pts accum
9 Rusty avg spd 66.76 9 laps 11337 damage 143 fuel 0 pts accum
results of race 4:
starting positions:
Ramdu, Burns, Bubble, Rusty, Bacon, Sarah, Marvin, JXBot3,
and Indretti.
1 Ramdu avg spd 73.21 10 laps 18723 damage 136 fuel 36 pts accum
2 Bacon avg spd 71.56 10 laps 927 damage 139 fuel 19 pts accum
3 Indretti avg spd 70.07 9 laps 1360 damage 137 fuel 11 pts accum
4 Bubble avg spd 70.07 9 laps 16527 damage 139 fuel 4 pts accum
5 Sarah avg spd 69.58 9 laps 6136 damage 138 fuel 9 pts accum
6 Burns avg spd 69.65 9 laps 16535 damage 141 fuel 17 pts accum
7 Marvin avg spd 68.66 9 laps 3861 damage 139 fuel 0 pts accum
8 JXBot3 avg spd 67.32 9 laps 11691 damage 138 fuel 8 pts accum
9 Rusty avg spd 66.94 9 laps 5089 damage 143 fuel 0 pts accum
results of race 5:
starting positions:
Burns, Sarah, Bubble, Marvin, Indretti, Bacon, JXBot3, Rusty,
and Ramdu.
1 Ramdu avg spd 73.95 10 laps 7596 damage 136 fuel 46 pts accum
2 Bacon avg spd 71.73 10 laps 1802 damage 139 fuel 25 pts accum
3 Marvin avg spd 69.7 9 laps 353 damage 139 fuel 4 pts accum
4 Bubble avg spd 69.62 9 laps 1325 damage 140 fuel 7 pts accum
5 Burns avg spd 69.62 9 laps 20480 damage 140 fuel 19 pts accum
6 Indretti avg spd 69.18 9 laps 6823 damage 137 fuel 12 pts accum
7 Sarah avg spd 68.88 9 laps 10036 damage 139 fuel 9 pts accum
8 JXBot3 avg spd 68.27 9 laps 22562 damage 138 fuel 8 pts accum
9 Rusty avg spd 67.25 9 laps 10025 damage 143 fuel 0 pts accum
results of race 6:
starting positions:
Ramdu, Rusty, JXBot3, Bacon, Indretti, Marvin, Bubble, Sarah,
and Burns.
1 Burns avg spd 72.45 10 laps 3061 damage 140 fuel 29 pts accum
2 Sarah avg spd 70.57 10 laps 1445 damage 138 fuel 15 pts accum
3 Ramdu avg spd 70.71 10 laps 19109 damage 136 fuel 50 pts accum
4 Bacon avg spd 70.49 9 laps 6249 damage 139 fuel 28 pts accum
5 Indretti avg spd 69.23 9 laps 3876 damage 137 fuel 14 pts accum
6 JXBot3 avg spd 69.07 9 laps 18449 damage 138 fuel 9 pts accum
7 Bubble avg spd 68.92 9 laps 3694 damage 139 fuel 7 pts accum
8 Marvin avg spd 68.23 9 laps 10604 damage 139 fuel 4 pts accum
9 Rusty avg spd 67.48 9 laps 6770 damage 142 fuel 0 pts accum
Novice Points:
today season pts
1 Bacon 56 pts 10
2 Sarah 40 pts 6
3 Menace 24 pts 4
4 MyHearse 17 pts 3
5 Carski 13 pts 2
Expert Points:
1 Ramdu 50 pts 10
2 Burns 29 pts 6
3 Bacon 28 pts 4
4 Sarah 15 pts 3
5 Indretti 14 pts 2
6 JXBot3 9 pts 1
7 Bubble 7 pts 0
8 Marvin 4 pts 0
9 Rusty 0 pts 0
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solo speeds:
Ramdu avg spd 75.21 7 laps 0 damage 141 fuel
Burns avg spd 72.56 7 laps 0 damage 143 fuel
Bubble avg spd 72 7 laps 0 damage 142 fuel
Bacon avg spd 71.98 7 laps 0 damage 142 fuel
Sarah avg spd 70.58 7 laps 0 damage 141 fuel
JXBot3 avg spd 70.45 7 laps 0 damage 141 fuel
Indretti avg spd 70.39 7 laps 0 damage 140 fuel
Menace avg spd 70.28 7 laps 0 damage 143 fuel
Marvin avg spd 69.84 7 laps 0 damage 142 fuel
Rusty avg spd 67.98 7 laps 0 damage 144 fuel
Carski avg spd 67.91 7 laps 0 damage 143 fuel
MyHearse avg spd 67.91 7 laps 0 damage 142 fuel
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