Learn the art of Artificial Intelligence Programming by hopping on an academic adventure with Microsoft to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars.
June 15 - July 24, 2020
SEE TIMELINEBasics of AI
SEE SYLLABUSCompetition Closed
COMPETITION CLOSEDStrive to get selected as a part of the crew that is chosen to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. Should you qualify, upskill yourself by learning AI concepts from Microsoft experts. Challenge yourself by taking as many assignments that are presented to you. Contribute to the mission by applying these concepts in building a web based application from the two choices provided.
Strive to be a part of the Mars Crew.
Choose to do any one project from the two options given below.
You must build a browser based web application and submit the URL of the page where you deploy the application.
How to submit final project
Help the Mars Curiosity Rover find the shortest path between two points while avoiding obstacles on the way.
Add your unique shade to the solution. Click here to see how.
Engage your Crew by Using Minimax algorithm to build an unbeatable Tic Tac Toe game powered by AI.
Add your unique shade to the solution. Click here to see how.
Follow these 3 easy steps to submit your final project between July 20 - July 24, 2020.
Final results will be announced on or before August 10th, 2020.
The Judges will evaluate each criteria on a scale of 0 - 10. Take each criteria seriously.
Do you have an impressive idea and/or a better approach than the ones highlighed as examples?
Some examples for Project 1 (Navigate the Mars Rover):
(a) Can you program two destination points (as apposed to one shown in the simulation)? How will your program determine which among the two is the final destination point?
(b) Can you program multiple destination points (as apposed to just one or two)? How will your program determine which among the many is the final destination point where the search needs to end?
(c) Any other unique idea you can think of? Don't restrict yourself to just these examples. Let your creativity go wild!
Some examples for Project 2 (Entertain the Crew with a Tic-Tac-Toe game):
(a) The use of minimax algorithm is mandatory. Over & above minimax algorithm, can you demonstrate any other approach that yeilds the same result?
(b) Currently, the program plays against a human competitor. Can you change the program in such a way that two humans are able to compete against each other?
(c) Can your program offer suggestion(s) on next move?
(d) Any other unique idea you can think of? Don't restrict yourself to just these examples. Let your creativity go wild!
Judges will evaluate the technical achievement the team has tackled during the competition. You will be allowed to upload technical documents along with your web app URL. The technical documents could include architecture design, flowchars, or technical specification of your prototype.
An agent is anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon that environment through actuators. A software agent receives keystrokes, file contents, and network packets as sensory inputs and acts on the environment by displaying on the screen, writing files, and sending network packets.
An agent behavior is described by the agent function that maps any given percept sequence to an action. Internally, the agent function for an artificial agent will be implemented by an agent program. This is the behavior you need to emulate either using Object Oriented Programming paradigm or Functional Programming paradigm.
When using Object Oriented Programming paradigm, write classes and derive objects which have functions to act as sensors and functions that act as actuators.
When using the Functional programming paradigm - show that your programs contain functions that consume or act on other functions as arguments or parameters.
If you are a sole contributor, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by other sole contributors.
If you are a team of two, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by a team consisting of two members.
If you are a team of three, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by a team with three team members.
If you are a team of four, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by a team with four team members.
We'll evaluate how unique is your code than the source code already presented to you. We will also measure the size, consistency, structure, and complexity of your codebase on GitHub. Your code should work on Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
If you are a sole contributor, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by other sole contributors.
If you are a team of two, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by a team consisting of two members.
If you are a team of three, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by a team with three team members.
If you are a team of four, your solution will be evaluated against solutions submitted by a team with four team members.
Stay as close to the problem statement as possible. Your prototype should take us closer to the goal of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars.
Your journey to Mars
This is a prerequisite. You must take this test to qualify for the program. Continue with next steps after you qualify.
This phase is over.
After you qualify, participate in Webinars and Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions with Microsoft experts to sharpen your skills on your journey to Mars.
SEE WEBINAR SCHEDULESubmit your weekly assignments to earn points. The scores from your Assignments gets added to your final score after your final Project submission. Only the top teams will be allowed to land on Mars.
SEE ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULESubmit your final project on or before July 24, 2020. You must use GitHub as your version control system. You would need to share your GitHub repository with us once you are ready to deploy. We would also ask for the URL of the page where you have deployed your project.
Last day to submit project: July 24th, 2020
HOW TO SUBMIT PROJECT
Here’s the syllabus in a nutshell. See Webinar schedule here.
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence concepts, foundations of AI, it’s history & present state. Learn about Intelligent Agents & the nature of Environments, the concept of Rationality, and the Structure of Agents.
Learn about various Problem-Solving Agents, how to solve problems by Searching, go beyond Classical Search, what is Adversarial Search, learn about Constraint Satisfaction Problem.
What are Logical Agents, learn about First-Order Logic, Inference in First-Order Logic, Classical Planning, Planning & Acting in real world, Knowledge Representation.
Quantifying Uncertainty, Probabilistic Reasoning, Probabilistic Reasoning over Time, Making Simple & Complex Decisions.
Webinars & Ask Me Anything (AMA) Sessions
| TOPIC | ON | STARTS AT | ENDS AT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to this program | June 17, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Introduction to Artificial Intelligence concepts | June 22, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Assignment 1 | June 23 - 25, 2020 | 12:00 AM | 11:59 PM | CLOSED |
| Ask Me Anything & On Azure Machine Learning | June 24, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Problem Solving using AI agents | June 26, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Assignment 2 | June 27 - 28, 2020 | 12:00 AM | 11:59 PM | CLOSED |
| Introduction to Git & GitHub | July 01, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| What does it mean to be Career Ready? | July 02, 2020 | 4:30 PM | 5:30 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Crack the Microsoft Interview | July 03, 2020 | 3:00 PM | 4:30 PM | Not Available |
| Assignment 3 | July 04 - 05, 2020 | 12:00 AM | 11:59 PM | CLOSED |
| Introduction to Big Data | July 08, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Culture at Microsoft | July 09, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Ask Me Anything about Mars Colonization Project | July 10, 2020 | 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM | SEE RECORDING |
| Assignment 4 | July 20 - 21, 2020 | 12:00 AM | 11:59 PM | CLOSED |
| Submit Final Project | July 21 - 24, 2020 | 11:00 AM | 11:59 PM | CLOSED |
Top Nine Sole Contributors
| FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | COLLEGE | PURSUING |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nandini | Goel | NIT, Kurukshetra | B.Tech |
| Sanya | Sharma | IIT, Guwahati | B.Tech |
| Subham | Neogi | Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur | B.Tech |
| Neetha | Reddy | IIIT, Bangalore | Dual Degree B.Tech - M.Tech |
| Harish | K | Amrita Institute, Bengaluru | B.Tech |
| Harshavardhini | B | Amrita Institute, Bengaluru | B.Tech |
| Sree | Bhattacharyya | Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur | B.Tech |
| Soumili | Bera | Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur | B.Tech |
| Suryashekhar | Khan | Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur | B.Tech |
Top Eleven 2-Member Teams
| TEAM NAME | TEAM MEMBERS | COLLEGE | PURSUING |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binary Brains | Gaurav Agarwal Akshita Jain |
IIT, Guwahati | B.Tech |
| Mangalyaan | Soumya Sharma Anusha Bansal |
Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, New Delhi | B.Tech |
| Mars Mates | Nandini Agrawal Harshita Malik |
Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, New Delhi | B.E. |
| Maximals | Swati Garg Aditi Chawla |
Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, New Delhi | B.E. |
| BlackWidows | Vartika Gupta Jaya Srivastava |
IIT, Kanpur | B.Tech |
| Bluemond | Shubham Gupta Ayan Choudhary |
IIT, Roorkee | B.Tech |
| Mars2020 | Vishal Yadav Mavneet Kaur |
NIT, Kurukshetra | B.Tech |
| Interstellar | Abhishek Kumar Gupta Taneesh |
IIT, Ropar | B.Tech |
| Team Calderon | Himanshu Pandey Ayush Upadhyay |
BITS, Pilani | B.E. |
| Power Puff Girls | Vrinda Aggarwal Richa Verma |
Delhi Technological University, New Delhi | B.Tech |
| R2D2 | Mehak Malhotra Urja Banati |
Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, New Delhi | B.E. |
Top Ten 3-Member Teams
| TEAM NAME | TEAM MEMBERS | COLLEGE | PURSUING |
|---|---|---|---|
| IB3 | Mukta Wagle Neha Singhal Shreya Laddha |
IIT, Bombay | B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech B.Tech |
| Marsquake | Akshay Gahlot Ekansh Mahendru Hansin Ahuja |
IIT, Ropar | B.Tech |
| All Strings Attached | Shreoshi Roy Akanksha Tanwar Anima Jain |
Delhi Technological University, New Delhi | B.Tech |
| Tech Tycoons | Swathi J S Sathvika B Mahesh Dolly Gupta |
NIT, Surathkal | B.Tech |
| Phoenix Mars Questers | Aashi Verma Aditi Verma Akanksha Pal |
Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, New Delhi | B.Tech |
| Code Punks | Ayush Jain Neha Parmar Adweta Ojha |
NIT, Bhopal | B.Tech |
| The Ismians | Shipra Sharma ChestLathi Plaksha Singh |
ISM IIT, Dhanbad | B.Tech |
| SRB | Shreya Munshi Rashmi Deep Mahawar Bhagyashree Mandar |
IIT, BHU | Dual Degree B.Tech.-M.Tech B.Tech Dual Degree Dual Degree B.Tech.-M.Tech. |
| SAV Coders | Sataakshi Bhangelwal Vanshika Jain Aarushi Kapoor |
Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, New Delhi | B.Tech |
| TheFireStar | Srinidhi Ayyagari Aayushi Bansal Tanisha Sharda |
Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, New Delhi | B.Tech |
Top Ten 4-Member Teams
| TEAM NAME | TEAM MEMBERS | COLLEGE | PURSUING |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space_Invaders | Avani Gupta Akshaya Karthikeyan Dipanwita Guhathakurta Tathagata Raha |
IIIT, Hyderabad | B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech |
| TouchDown | Yashdeep Prasad Shreeya Garg Sonali Supriya Larika Sehgal |
IIIT, Delhi | B.Tech |
| Gente Ingeniosa | Pratvi Shah Vishwa Shah Ayushi Patel Soumya Nunavath |
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat | B.Tech |
| Team Code Brewers | Ruthu S Sanketh Gauranshi Chauhan Jagriti Agarwal Nikita |
IIT, Kharagpur | Dual Degree B.Tech.-M.Tech. B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech B.Tech |
| AARIV | Ajay Bohra Deepak Tiwari Kunal Khanra Amit Joshi |
Army Insititue of Tech, Pune | B.E. |
| Team BITS Pilani | Aashya Kumar Aishwarya Kondaveeti Shruti Anand Rutuvi Narang |
BITS, Pilani | B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech Dual Degree B.E. B.Tech Dual Degree |
| Phobos | Radhika Singh Avani Singh Anushka Agarwal Neha Kumari |
IIT, BHU | B.Tech |
| MarsCodeWar | Bineeta Oram Anjali Soni Ankita Matwa Maitri Khanna |
IIT, Guwahati | B.Tech |
| Achievers | Shreya Joshi Tanishqa Lalwani Divya Vazirani Tanaya Shah |
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat | B.Tech |
| Game of Threads | Roshni Satish Sheetal Madikonda Samreen Pathan Laharee Ghosh |
BITS, Hyderabad | B.Tech Dual Degree B.Tech B.Tech Dual Degree B.E. |
