🤖 Cloudflight Coding Contest — Autonomous Drone

This repository contains my solution for the Cloudflight Coding Contest (CCC) problem “Autonomous Drone”.
The challenge simulates the flight of a drone through multiple levels, each adding new mechanics — from basic upward motion to 2D flight and obstacle avoidance.

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🚀 Overview

In Autonomous Drone, your goal is to simulate and control a drone’s flight under physical and logical constraints:

• Update position and velocity over discrete time ticks
• Account for gravity and limited acceleration
• Perform a soft landing under specific conditions
• Avoid obstacles and respect time constraints

Each level builds upon the previous one, gradually introducing new dimensions and challenges.

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🧩 Level 2 — Velocity from Acceleration

The drone’s vertical motion is simulated based on a sequence of accelerations.

Rules

• The drone always accelerates upward (acceleration ≥ 0).
• Gravity: 10 velocity units per tick.
• Every tick:
  1. Update velocity → velocity = velocity + acceleration - gravity
  2. Update height → height = height + velocity
• The height will never be negative.
• For each flight, output the drone’s final height.

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🧩 Level 3 — Controlled Flight and Soft Landing

Now you control the drone by generating the sequence of accelerations.

Rules

• A target height is given.
• The drone must:
  • Take off at the first tick.
  • Reach at least the target height before landing.
  • Land softly, meaning velocity ∈ {-1, 0} when height = 0.
• Acceleration range: 0 ≤ acceleration ≤ 20.
• The flight must end after landing.
• The total flight duration must not exceed the given time limit.

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🧩 Level 4 — Two-Dimensional Flight

The drone can now move in both x and y directions.

Rules

• x acceleration:
  • Positive → move right
  • Negative → move left
• y acceleration:
  • Positive → move up
  • Affected by gravity
• Gravity affects only y.
• Total acceleration constraint:
  0 ≤ |ax| + |ay| ≤ 20
• The landing pad is placed on the ground (not at x = 0).
• Start position: (x=0, y=0)
• Must reach a minimum flight height during the flight.
• Land softly on the landing pad.

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🧩 Level 5 — Buildings and Obstacles

The final level adds obstacles — rectangular buildings that the drone must avoid.

Rules

• Buildings: Defined by width and height.
• No building exists at (x=0, y=0).
• The landing pad may be on:
  • The ground, or
  • The top of a building (y = height of that building)
• The drone must not collide with any building.
• Land softly on the landing pad.

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✅ Valid Flight Checklist (Level 5)

A flight is considered valid if it meets all of the following conditions:

• The drone’s total acceleration (|ax| + |ay|) is between 0 and 20.
• y acceleration must never be negative.
• The drone must take off at the first tick.
• The drone must never touch, enter, or pass through a building — except when landing on the landing pad.
• The drone’s x velocity must be 0 when landing.
• The drone’s y velocity must be -1 or 0 when landing.
• After takeoff, the drone may only touch:
  • The ground, or
  • The top of a building,
    and only when landing on the landing pad.
• The acceleration sequence must end immediately after landing.
• The flight must not exceed the given time limit.

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