The Application of Artificial Intelligence to Solve a Physical Puzzle

Abstract

Thesis (M.A.) -- Indiana University South Bend, 2007.This thesis presents the design, development, and implementation of an intelligent agent capable of solving a physical puzzle. The puzzle is a three dimensional maze in which a marble must be moved from its starting point to a target cell in the opposite corner. The movement of the marble is strictly the result of movement of the maze itself, the marble's response to gravity, and collisions with the walls of the maze. The physical nature of the puzzle provides an interesting challenge for the intelligent agent attempting to solve it, since it does not have complete control over the effects of its actions, and is not able to predict with certainty what those effects will be. A software framework is developed to integrate the artificial intelligence, physics simulation, and computer graphics required to solve the puzzle. A control scheme is designed to enable the agent to perform the physical moves to be simulated. Several solution algorithms are developed and implemented, incorporating varying levels of knowledge of the maze's geometry and the physics involved. In general, it is shown that by increasing the 'intelligence' of the agent, the performance was significantly improved. This thesis is a unique integration of artificial intelligence, physics simulation, and computer graphics. The result is the graphical animation of the solution to a physical puzzle that could not be solved without each of the three technologies.Indiana University South Bend Department of Computer and Information Sciences and the Department of Mathematical Science