Virtual Robot Cave Fight Competition

UPDATE 4/20/23

Congratulations to our first annual Robot Cave Fight winner, Monolith! Monolith was operated by Gabriel Quinto, Carter Parsell, and Kaitlyn Pryor. 

Monolith's strategy was to take advantage of a rule that allowed them to set their robot's speed to a negative value. This let them make their constitution larger and increase their defenses and attack strength. They never took damage during the match, and their high health value helped them win the tiebreaker round. Their facvored attack, the "Earth Rattle" dealt severe damage to thier opponent and ultimately won them the competition. 

The Robot Cave Fight had close to 40 students participating to make up a toal of 11 teams. the event provided entertainment for those within the department and acress the Univeristy. 

The College of Business’s Department of Computing is excited to announce the upcoming Virtual Robot Cave Fight competition on April 14th from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. The event will take place in East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU) Culp Center Cave, and is the result of the hard work and creativity of the department's Introduction to Computer Science students.

During the competition, student groups will showcase their skills in designing virtual robots that can interact with a simulated environment. Each group will develop strategies and actions for their robot to defeat opponents from other sections of the course. The event promises to be an exciting and highly competitive tournament.

The Virtual Robot Cave Fight competition represents the culmination of the skills and knowledge taught in the Introduction to Computer Science course. Students will apply computational thinking skills and computer programming to design complex objects, develop algorithms, and work with variables, functions, loops, and decision structures.

This innovative event was developed through the collaboration of department faculty and graduate students, including Dillon Buchanan, who first proposed the idea. Dillon had the original idea of designing a virtual robot as a final project for the course, and I had the idea to add the visuals and have the different sections compete against one another. 

The department is proud of the hard work and dedication of its students and looks forward to an exciting competition that showcases their talents. The Virtual Robot Cave Fight competition promises to be an unforgettable experience for all involved.