If you would like to work remotely and have a slow connection, you should look into installing the RoboCup Soccer Server System on your local machine. We will be using version 9.3.7 for this class. There is a tarred, gzipped version of the server at /projects/cs378.pstone/rcsoccersim-9.3.7.tar.gz . Note that there is a patch in that directory as well.

Get familiar with the soccer simulator

1. First, change your shell's PATH variable to include the robocup soccer server directory:

     /projects/cs378.pstone/rcsoccersim-9.3.7/install/bin/
   

   To do this, first determine which shell you are using by typing

           % echo $SHELL
   

   at the command prompt. If you are using bash, open the file in your home directory named ".bashrc" and add this line to the end of it:

     export PATH=$PATH:/projects/cs378.pstone/rcsoccersim-9.3.7/install/bin/
   

   If you are using tcsh, open the file in your home directory named ".tcshrc" and add this line to the end of it:

     set path = ( $path /projects/cs378.pstone/rcsoccersim-9.3.7/install/bin/ )
   

   If you are using csh, open the file in your home directory named ".login" and add this line to the end of it:

     setenv PATH ${PATH}:/projects/cs378.pstone/rcsoccersim-9.3.7/install/bin/
   

   Note: You will need to restart your shell (or just log out and log back in again) for these changes to take effect! For more information on setting your shell's environment variables, see this shell intro page.
2. Make sure nobody else is running the simulator on the machine you're on:

   	% ps aux | grep rcss
   

   If someone is on, you will see a line with the word "rcssserver" in it. (For future reference, there IS a way to run multiple servers on the same machine.)
3. If you are not running the server on the local muchine, run the following command:

   	% xhost a.cs.utexas.edu 
   	    where 'a' is the name of the machine you are using.
   

4. In one shell, start the simulator:

           % rcsoccersim
   

   If the command rcsoccersim cannot be found, make sure that your PATH environment variable is set correctly (see the instructions above).
5. In another shell, start a player:

   	% cd /projects/cs378.pstone/sampleclient        
           % ./client
           Type "(init myteam (version 9.3))" 
   	[instead of myteam, use your own name] and watch the new agent's sensory information stream by. 
   
           Kill the client (ctrl-C). 
   

6. Now start the player again, but pipe the output to a file:

           % ./client > ~/myteam.out    
           Type "(init myteam (version 9.3))" and see a 2nd agent appear on the field. 
           Type "(move -10 0)" and see the player move onto the field. 
           Press the "kickoff" button on the simulator window. 
           Type "(turn 45)" and see the player turn. 
           Type "(turn -45)" and see the player turn back. 
           Type "(dash 100)" and see the player move. 
           Type "(dash 100)" several more times until the player is next to the ball. 
           Type "(kick 100 0)" and see the ball move towards the goal. 
   
   	NOTE:  If you don't get the player to the ball by cycle 200, it may jump
   	back to where it started.  This will only happen once.  One way around 
   	this problem is to wait until cycle 200 before starting to dash.
    
           Notice that all this time, the clock at the top of the simulator has been. 
           running.  When you kicked off, the play mode changed to "play_on". 
   
           Now middle-click with your mouse somewhere on the field and give. 
           a free kick to one of the teams.  Notice that the play mode changes. 
    
           Kill the client (ctrl-C). 
   
           Kill the simulator by hitting ctrl-C in the window that you
           started the server from.
    
           Now inspect the file ~/myteam.out to see the player's sensations 
           during the above sequence.   
            -- Search for "ball" (it should have become visible after the "move"). 
            -- Search for "referee" (changes to the play mode are announced). 
   	The flags are all static markers that help the player figure out where 
   	it is on the field.
   

NOTE that if you just close the soccer server window, you probably will just stop the monitor. The actual soccer server process ("rcssserver") will probably still be running, unless you stopped everything by hitting ctrl-c in the terminal window it started in. This can be annoying; if you want to kill the soccer server you'll probably have to find the process (ps aux | grep "rcss") and kill it manually.

In this exercise, you controlled the player by typing. Your sensations came from an overhead view of the field. Your task during this class will be to program agents to control players. Their sensations will be exactly what you saw in the file myteam.out.

Watch a game

        % cd /projects/cs378.pstone/logs
        % ls 

        % rcsslogplay <game>  (e.g. "rcsslogplay 99final.rcg") 

Create a game log

	% ls *.rcg

        % rcsslogplay <file>.rcg