Unfinished solution for the The Eleventh ICFP Programming Contest
Recent breakthroughs in higher-order, statically-typed, metaspatial communication will enable data to be transferred between Mars and Earth almost instantaneously. As such, NASA is seeking examples of real-time control software to operate its latest model Martian rovers from control centers on Earth. Since it is well known that the ICFP contest attracts the crème de la crème of programmers from around the world, NASA has decided to use the current contest as a means of gathering software prototypes for their new control system. We are pleased to announce that this year’s winning entry will in fact be used to control the rover on NASA’s very next mission to Mars!
Your control software will communicate with the rover over a network socket. Its object is to guide the rover safely from a given starting location to its home base. The controller’s primary function is to avoid the boulders and craters that litter the Martian surface. As an added nuisance, the local inhabitants, who are decidedly hostile, will immediately destroy any rover they can get their fourteen sticky fingers on. Note that Martians, like dogs, vary in intelligence.
Control software prototypes will be evaluated according to their performance in a series of trials, the details of which are given below. Each trial consists of five runs on a given region of Mars. As a means of preparing for these trials, this document and its accompanying software provide sufficient details and infrastructure for the development of prototype candidates. Good luck, and may yours be the winning entry, to be used on Mars itself.