CREDITS TO: matfin http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/matfin/488620 This is a refactored 2012 bot racing contest entry. Fixed broken collision detections, re-coded the project structure to fix past bugs, improved the menu, added sensor debugging/restarting toggles, made circuit creation easier, and synchronized bot updates to a consistent tick rate. You can also drive the red dummy-car and try to beat the bots! == Bots Overview == Dark Blue Car (Bot 1): matfin's AI. Original baseline bot. Pink Car (Bot 2): matfin's AI. Typically finished last, though it occasionally surprised by beating Bot 1. Orange Car (Bot 3): bestvitalic2's AI. Upgraded version of the pink bot. Faster than the grey bot, though slightly less reliable across circuits. Grey Car (Bot 4): bestvitalic2's AI. Remade from scratch as intended. Slower than orange, but significantly more reliable across diverse circuits. Yellow Car (Bot 5): bestvitalic2's AI. Based on the dark blue bot; pre-analyzes circuits to map sensor directions, using switchers to take corners from the inside. Light Blue Car (Bot 6): bestvitalic2's AI. Based on a 2012 idea; runs the circuit backwards to find the longest straight paths before hitting walls, maximizing exit velocity and smoothing sharp curves. Dark Red Car (Bot 7): bestvitalic2's AI. Powered by two breadth-first searches with a heuristic function based on travel frames. Became the ultimate champion, easily beating previous and current bots. Purple Car (Bot 8): bestvitalic2's AI. A simple, fast and elegant script that analyzes the track by casting rays forward in various directions every frame, selecting the direction of the longest ray. It maps waypoints during this phase and then efficiently follows them, ensuring no extra resources are wasted on raycasting during the race. == Winners So Far == Track 1 to Track 25: Dark Red Car (Bot 7) == Recent Updates == [ Aug 20th, 2025 ] Improved and re-adapted every bot to the new analysis flow, in order for them to accurately find their way across the tracks. [ Jun 10th, 2025 ] Implemented a track editor, adding the possibility of creating new tracks, refactored the analysis and road/off-road detection systems. Added a test-drive phase so that some bots refine the position of their waypoints. [ Jul 19th, 2022 ] Created track track18, easily won by Dark Red. [ Aug 24th, 2021 ] Major visual overhaul: new thumbnail, redesigned instructions, SVG tracks, off-road grass, car shadows, and dummy-car ghost transparency. [ Jun 21st, 2021 ] Added track15 (intense 3-way fight for 1st) and track16 (demolished by Bot 7). [ Oct 7th, 2020 ] Optimized Bot 7 analysis performance and added track13 and track14, both easily won by Dark Red. [ Sep 23rd, 2020 ] Added menu button tooltips and a Turbo Mode advisory modal for the analysis phase. [ Sep 17th, 2020 ] Refactored Bot 7 structure; it can now successfully win on every track. [ Set 3rd, 2020 ] Tuned Bot 7 settings to secure a win on track5. [ Sep 1st, 2020 ] Added Dark Red Bot (Bot 7) using dual BFS searches and heuristic travel-time vectoring (algorithm details: [ Jul 12th, 2020 ] Added track12. Won by Light Blue, with Orange a close second. [ Jun 24th, 2020 ] Added track11. Won by Light Blue; Grey took 3rd over Orange, and Pink beat Dark Blue. [ Apr 20th, 2020 ] Added Light Blue Bot (Bot 6). Runs circuits backward to find longest straights, maximizing exit velocity and smoothing sharp turns. [ Apr 17th, 2020 ] Added Yellow Bot (Bot 5). It pre-maps sensor directions and uses track switchers to optimize inside cornering. [ Apr 11th, 2020 ] Improved Orange Bot's analysis for better speed and circuit reliability.
