Creating an AI Controller: Post-Project Reflection

Yesterday I reflected on my DirectX project. Today, I'm taking a look back at my completed AI controller. While I was happy with my DirectX results, I felt I could have done better. Well, I suppose I'll always feel that way with any project, but with the AI controller I apparently blew the project expectations out of the water. My lecturer told me he wished he could give me a higher grade than A+, so I'm guessing I did pretty dang good on this one!

Just a part of the crazy customization section for the controller.

Features

I was worried about the tuning part of this project (though the amount of tuning I ended up doing was laughably small). I also wanted to implement tuning via genetic algorithm, so I had to make my controller robust enough to handle any type of membership function shape, location, and rules. I also wanted to be able to tune it and see the results instantly. Finally, I was doing this work away from university so I had no access to the fuzzy toolset of MATLAB to visually see what my membership functions were doing. Consequently... I basically built the MATLAB fuzzy toolset in HTML5 and JavaScript.

Think this was crazy? Well, it kind of was. But the result is really great to see. The user can slide a slider or enter numbers and immediately see the effect on the membership function curve. They can even edit the controller while it is controlling the car - and see the result immediately! And, when I actually tuned the controller using genetic algorithms, it was great to see the results graphed for me.

Once a controller is customized it can be exported, and other controllers can be imported. The proof of concept game allows controllers to be tested, either via an automated track or by user-controlled changes in the track. The game runs for one minute, after which results are printed to the screen and can be exported for use in a spreadsheet program such as Excel.

Proof of concept game application, showing AI readouts.

The last part of the assignment was to look at a second AI method, and if possible implement it. I was interested in genetic algorithms, and I like the idea of combining AI methods. I dislike the fiddling that tuning a fuzzy controller requires (I generally hate anything of that nature) so, naturally, I decided to try to get the computer to do it for me. It turns out this is apparently a pretty new and interesting use of genetic algorithms, which impressed the lecturer quite a bit. I was able to successfully use genetic algorithms to tune the controller, and while the result wasn't ideal, I have lots of ideas on how to improve it in the future.

Moving Forward

My lecturer seemed very interested in this project, so it is my hope I might have some future opportunities to improve and continue my work on it. There are two main areas I'd like to improve. First, I was hindered by JavaScript's inability to handle complex numbers, and the lack of math libraries available to handle math such as finding the root of cubic equations. Were I to continue this project, I may move to a more robust language.

Probably on a more interesting note, there are several things I would change with the genetic algorithm code. First of all, I would limit the genetic algorithms to only edit half of the membership functions, leaving the other half symmetrical. This constraint makes sense because an ideal controller will always be symmetrical, and will allow more optimization time to go towards other facets of the controller. I would allow more variation in other areas, including variation in rules as well as membership set location. Finally, I would incorporate the elitist technique in the selection criteria, which keeps the highest performing controller(s) from one generation and copies them directly into the next, ensuring that the performance never goes down, but can only grow.

AI is a subject I'm very interested in, and is one of the fields I am considering making a career of.  This project gave me a chance to stretch my wings and really get my hands dirty with AI in code as opposed to concept, and I feel the result was a smashing success!