The Chase

Due: Wednesday, July 19, 2003
Last modified: "July 1, 2003 11:23:08 by evett"

Use the lilGP or ECJ to evolve evader strategies in a game of "hunt the gazelle".

First, you must encode a simulation of the game. The game consists of from 1-3 lions, and one gazelle. The lions start at a distance of between 50 and 100 yards from the gazelle, at random orientations. The gazelle moves at 30 yards/sec, while the lions move at 20 yards/sec. The lions will either move directly toward the gazelle, or towards a point projected along the perceived current trajectory of the gazelle.

The simulation should be decomposed into 0.1 second intervals, with the gazelle and lions providing a direction of travel at each interval. Note that the lions can alter their direction of travel by at most 20 degrees per turn, while the gazelle can alter direction by at most 30 degrees.

A simulation is over when a lion is within 1 yard of the gazelle, or the gazelle can clearly not be caught.

Points to consider

  1. What will be your terminal and function sets?
  2. How big a population should you use?
  3. How will you integrate the simulation with lil'GP?

Java application for displaying behavior of gazelle and lions