48 HOURS

It’s Friday evening, but I already know this weekend is going to be the crappiest one since I returned to school.

On Monday, my fuzzy logic controller project is due. It’s worth 50% of the course. I’ve barely started. We were given freedom to control any system we wanted to. Me, being an idiot, decided to use fuzzy logic to control the behaviour of a defenseman in a hockey video game. I thought I was being smart about it. In my proposal, I made several simplifications and cut out a ton of parameters.

There are several roadblocks to success this weekend. First, I have to implement the controller in Matlab. I’ve never used Matlab before in my entire life. Even if my control strategy is sound on paper (which I have my doubts right now), there’s a possibility Matlab might take up a huge chunk of time. You all know what I’m talking about, a piece of software is supposed to automate a task for you to save you time. In reality the software works against you and it takes you more time to get it to work than if you did it by hand. Given the time constraints and Murphy’s Law, I know how this is going to turn out.

Actually, it wouldn’t be so bad if I only had to design the fuzzy controller, but my prof wants us to compare the fuzzy controller to a conventional controller. What the hell is a conventional controller for a video game defenseman? I have no idea how the AI works in the NHL games. Even if I did, how could I re-create it in one weekend? I wish he had told us he wanted a conventional controller early on, instead of springing it on us at the last second.

I just had dinner and I think it will be the highlight of my weekend. Lemon grass chicken, a spring roll, and some rice. Yummy!