Control systems are pervasive in our world and play a crucial role in many aspects of our lives, from keeping satellites in the right altitude and heading to monitoring patients and making medication adjustments to keep them healthy. Sometimes, tricky problems can be simplified by applying a control system lens; but the programming model for a digital control system is not immediately obvious.
Codyssey is a 3-hour workshop where you’ll learn about the control system programming model and implement simple systems in Python to autonomously play various games. You’ll observe the behavior of your system in a visual environment, and compete with other participants to solve as many games as you can. Along the way, you’ll have to think creatively and practice translating your intuition into code.
During the workshop I’ll mentor individual participants / pairs; in-between those mentoring sessions I’ll live-code solutions for chosen challenges while demonstrating how to apply the control system programming model.
Target audience: only basic Python knowledge is required - variables, operators, conditions, loops, functions and lists. The workshop can be challenging for experienced programmers as well as fun and instructive for juniors.
Each challenge will have you implementing a function that runs dozens of times a second, deciding which action to take. The challenges you’ll face include: * Navigating a ship through a winding strait * Helping Sisyphus finally get that rock to the top, saving him from his eternal punishment * Saving Icarus from his hubris-induced watery fate * And more
Come hone your Python skills, adapt to a new way of thinking, and tackle some epic challenges!