CS 391 Selected Topics: Game AI Homework #3

Note: This work is to be done in groups of 2.  Each group will submit one assignment.  Although you may divide the work, both team members should be able to present/describe their partner's work upon request. 

FreeCell Solver

Using your FreeCellNode from Homework #2 (or another's FreeCellNode implementation if you wish), implement a FreeCell solver program that takes the game seed as a command line parameter (i.e. args[0] in the main method), and prints the solution following the notation of the FreeCell solutions site, or "No solution found." if the search is unsuccessful.  You should report the fraction of game seeds from 1-100 that you are able to solve in 1 minute each or less, and be prepared to demonstrate your work.

• Begin by defining a heuristic/static evaluation (i.e. progress score) of your state.  In class, we discussed several possible features that might be helpful, but you can find even more feature ideas from G. Heineman.  Algorithm to Solve FreeCell Solitaire Games (download code to see actual board evaluation), and Elyasaf, Hauptman, and Sipper. Evolutionary Design of FreeCell Solvers (which gets Heineman's heuristic wrong).
• You are welcome to use any search algorithm, but I recommend starting with a modification to recursive depth limited search that returns heuristic state evaluation information and thus guides the play in helpful directions when a goal node isn't found.  These ideas are similar to a strategy called "island-driven search". There are many other search ideas that may be helpful (e.g. beam search and variants).  Do not expect that you'll be able to look far enough ahead from the beginning to find a goal node.  That's what makes this a particularly interesting search challenge!
• You may find it helpful to automate your testing process.   In that case, you may wish to time-limit your search algorithm, in which case System.currentTimeMillis() will again be helpful.
• Note: If you would like to see and/or make use of my Homework #2 code, please mention it as you submit your Homework #2 work via email. You will submit this work via email as well.  Please include all necessary files for compilation and question answering in a single .zip file as an attachment.