1. The 2009 Simulated Car Racing Championship Daniele Loiacono, Julian Togelius, and Pier Luca Lanzi Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009

2. 2009 Simulate Car Racing Championship The goal is to submit a learned or developed controller for TORCS, an open source racing simulator, that is able to drive fast alone and in presence of opponents Championship involves 9 races and will be run during 3 ConferencesIEEE CEC-2009, Trondheim (Norway), May 18th May21stACM GECCO-2009, Montreal (Canada), July 8th 12thIEEE CIG-2009, Milan (Italy), September 7th 11th Winners awarded on the basis of their scoring in each conference competition. At the end, the team with highest overall score will be the winner the championship Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 3. Motivations Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 4. Motivations Simulated Car Racing is a funny and exciting competition It is possible to see and play with the entries of this competition It looks really attractive to students and people outside the field Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 5. Goals of Simulated Car Racing Proposing a challenging competition:not designed with Computational Intelligence in mindcomputationally expensivenoisy and not completely deterministicmore similar to a real-world problem Proposing a relevant game-based competition:more representative of commercial games AIreal-timedealing with a lot of practical issuesa lot of programmed AI available for comparisonhuman players can interact with AI Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 6. The Open Racing Car Simulator 7. The Open Racing Car Simulator TORCS is a state of the art open source simulator written in C++ Main featuresSophisticated dynamicsProvided with severalcars, tracks, andcontrollersActive community ofusers and developersEasy to develop yourown controller OS SupportLinux: binaries and building from sourcesWindows: binaries and limited bulding from sources supportOSX: legacy binaries and no building from sources support Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 8. Competition API To make TORCS more easy to use we developed an API based on socket (UDP) Values of sensors and effectors are sentTORCS through UDP Patch 3 componentsTorcs Patch Server BOTServer Bot (C++)Client API (C++ and Java) UDP ClientControlller Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 9. Sensors Rangefinders foredges of the trackopponents Speed, RPM, fuel, damage, angle with track, distance race, position on track, etc. Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 10. Effectors Basically 4 effectorsSteering wheel [-1,+1]Gas pedal [0, +1]Brake pedal [0,+1]Gearbox {-1,0,1,2,3,4,5,6} Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 11. Submissions 12. Entries submitted CEC-2009Luigi Cardamone, Politecnico di Milano (champ CIG-2008)Diego Prez & Yago Sez, University Carlos III, MadridJan Quadflieg, TU DortmundThies Lnneker & Martin V. Butz, University of WrzburgEnrique Onieva & David A. Pelta., Consejo Superior deInvestigaciones Cientificas & Universidad de GranadaChung Cheng Chiu, Academia Sinica GECCO-2009Jorge Muoz, University Carlos III, MadridBernardi, Ciambelli, Fiocchetti, Manfucci and Pizzo, University ofPerugiaWong Ka Chun, The Chinese University of Hong KongWitold Szymaniak, Poznan University of Technology CIG-2009Marc Ebner and Thorsten Tiede, Eberhard Karls Universitt,TbingenWolf-Dieter Beelitz, BHR Engineering Ltd., PforzheimSimulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 13. Types of entries Mainly evolved/Learned Luigi Cardamone, Politecnico di Milano (champ CIG-2008) Bernardi, Ciambelli, Fiocchetti, Manfucci and Pizzo, University of Perugia Witold Szymaniak, Poznan University of Technology Marc Ebner and Thorsten Tiede, Eberhard Karls Universitt, Tbingen Programmed behaviors developed with a significant CI contribute Thies Lnneker & Martin V. Butz, University of Wrzburg Jan Quadflieg, TU Dortmund Diego Prez & Yago Sez, University Carlos III, Madrid Mainly programmed Enrique Onieva & David A. Pelta., Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas & Universidad de Granada Wolf-Dieter Beelitz, BHR Engineering Ltd., Pforzheim Chung Cheng Chiu, Academia Sinica Jorge Muoz, University Carlos III, Madrid C. Guse and D. Vrajitorum, Indiana University South Ben Wong Ka Chun, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 14. Championship standingsCompetitor CEC-2009 GECCO-2009 CIG-2009 TotalOnieva&Pelta 2232? 54COBOSTAR 28.516.5? 45Luigi (Champ2008)2023? 43Perez&Saez 1611? 27Mr. Racer19 0? 19Redjava14 0? 14Epic013? 13Simplicity012.5? 12.5DRT 011? 11Jorge Muoz 0 8.5?8.5Witold0 0?0 Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 15. First evaluation stage 16. Scoring process: first stage Scoring process involves three tracks (unknown to the competitors):Buzzard-RacewayForzaMigrants Only a controller at once is tested and performance is defined as the distance covered within 10000 game tics Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 17. First Stage: Buzzard-Raceway DRT Witek Witold Epic Perez&SaezEbner&TiedeSimplicity Luigi (Champ2008)Wolf-Dieter RedjavaJorge Fuentes COBOSTAROnieva&PeltaMr. Racer02000 4000 6000 8000 10000 Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 18. First Stage: ForzaDRT Witek WitoldEpic Perez&SaezEbner&Tiede Simplicity Luigi (Champ2008)Wolf-Dieter Redjava Jorge Fuentes COBOSTAROnieva&Pelta Mr. Racer 0 20004000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 19. First Stage: MigrantsDRTWitek WitoldEpicPerez&Saez Ebner&Tiede SimplicityLuigi (Champ2008) Wolf-DieterRedjava Jorge FuentesCOBOSTAR Onieva&Pelta Mr. Racer 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 20. First stage: summary RankCompetitorForza Buzzard Migrants Total 1COBOSTAR610 10 26 2Onieva&Pelta8 88 24 3Jorge Muoz 5 56 16 4Mr. Racer10 40 14 5Wolf-Dieter 3 65 14 6Redjava 4 24 10 7Luigi (Champ2008) 2 327 8Perez&Saez0 033 9Ebner&Tiede 0 11210Simplicity1 00111Witek Witold0 000 COBOSTAR and Onieve&Pelta Clearly the fastest controllers but also the most reliable In each track the performances of best controllers are very close COBOSTAR outperfoms Berniw (one of the best programmed controller provided with TORCS) on two tracksSimulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 21. Diego Prez et al. University Carlos III, Madrid8th Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 22. CIG-2008 ChampLuigi CardamonePolitecnico di Milano 7th Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 23. RedjavaChung Cheng ChiuAcademia Sinica, Taipei6th Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 24. Wolf-Dieter Beelitz, BHREngineering Ltd., Pforzheim 5th Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 25. Mr Racer Jan Quadflieg 4th TU Dortmund Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 26. Jorge MuozUniversity Carlos III, Madrid3rd Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 27. Enrique Onieva Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, La Poveda-Arganda del Rey, MadridDavid A. Pelta Universidad de Granada Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-20092nd 28. COBOSTARThies Lnneker and Martin V. ButzUniversity of Wrzburg 1sthttp://www.coboslab.psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.deSimulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 29. Final evaluation stage 30. The final stage Who is the best controller in presence of opponents? In the final stage we compared all the entries with the previous CIG-2008 champion For each track we run 5 races with random starting grids The final score is computed as the median of the 5 races using the F1 point system (10 to first, 8 to second, 6 to third 5, 4, 3 to the last) In addition two 2-points bonus are awarded toThe controller that reported less damages at the end ofthe raceThe controller that achieved the fastest lap of the race Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 31. The Final Stage: Buzzard-Raceway Competitor Buzzard Forza Migrant Total COBOSTAR 11 11 Onieva&Pelta99 Jorge Muoz 66 Luigi (Champ 2008)4.54.5 Wolf-Dieter 44 Mr. Racer 3.53.5 Perez & Saez33 Redjava 2.52.5 Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 32. The Final Stage: Forza Competitor Buzzard Forza Migrant Total Onieva&Pelta9 1221 COBOSTAR 11718 Jorge Muoz 63.5 9.5 Mr. Racer 3.56 9.5 Wolf-Dieter 45.5 9.5 Luigi (champ 2008)4.54 8.5 Redjava 2.54 6.5 Perez & Saez32.5 5.5 Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 33. The Final Stage: Migrants Competitor Buzzard ForzaMigrantTotal COBOSTAR 11 7 1230 Onieva&Pelta912829 Wolf-Dieter 4 5.5615.5 Jorge Muoz 6 3.5514.5 Luigi (champ 2008)4.5 4412.5 Mr. Racer 3.5 62.512 Redjava 2.5 4410.5 Perez & Saez3 2.54 9.5COBOSTAR is the winner of CIG-2009 Car Racing Competition!Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 34. Championship 2009Competitor CEC-2009 GECCO-2009 CIG-2009 TotalOnieva&Pelta 223229 83COBOSTAR28.516.5 30 75Luigi (Champ2008)2023 12.5 55.5Perez&Saez 16119.5 36.5Mr. Racer19 012 31Redjava14 0 10.5 24.5Jorge Muoz8.514.523Wolf-Dieter 15.5 15.5Epic 13 0 13Simplicity12.5012.5DRT11 0 11Witold0 0 0Ebner&Tiede 0 0Onieva & Pelta winners of 2009 Simulated Car Racing Championship! Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 35. Conclusions (1) Really a lot of improvement from the first edition of TORCS- based competition at WCCI-2008 (June, 2008)WCCI-2008 CIG-2009 Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 36. Conclusions (2) Pool of competitors is getting bigger and competition is getting more and more difficult The best controllers are at the same fast and very reliable: they are able to win even from the last position of the starting grid Many controllers improved their opponent avoidance/overtaking behavior The best controllers among the submitted ones are competitive with the programmed controllers in the game! Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 37. What about CI? Learn or evolve a controller from scratch does not seem to lead to the best performance The winner is actually mainly programmed However most of the controllers involves CI:Parameters optimizationLearning target speed/trajectoryLearning complex behaviors (?) Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 38. What next? We plan to organize again this competition next year keeping the championship formula We are definitely interested in performances but we also wish to see novel approaches and CI-relevant works:Introducing a training stage to encourage learningImproving sensory inputs to be competitive withprofessional TORCS controllerEvaluating controllers also on specific tasks (e.g., racestart, overtaking, etc.) as a part of the competition Simulated Car Racing requires a big effort how to keep people interested?Awards and prizes at major conferencesDissemination of results Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009 39. Thank You! Any Question? Simulated Car Racing Championship @ CIG-2009