Superficial Intelligence

The first match of the Algorithm competition of Imagine Cup has ended. This is the first of four matches in the first round. To qualify for the second round, you basically have to be in the top 50 of any of the four matches. A total of 200 competitors move on to the second round. Sadly, I only got to the 70th position. Although, this is not bad if you consider that there were more than 1300 participants. Plus, I still got three more matches to try to get into the top 50.

This first round is in the form of a game called Herbert. You have to program a robot to move around a small map and press all white buttons. If it presses a gray button, all the white buttons become unpressed once more. You program the robot's movements using a simple programming language which consists of turning right (r), turning left (l), and going forward (s). You can also build functions that accept parameters like movements and numbers. With clever uses of recursion, you can get the right paths. There is a catch though. You get a maximum number of bytes for each puzzle. So you can't just write a really long solution. And the shorter solution you write, the more points you receive. Here is a screenshot of the puzzle:

I hope to do better in the second match. I want to be able to proudly represent Puerto Rico and also my current university, University of Minnesota. (By the way, I seem to be the only competitor from either place.) Wish me luck!