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6th IPSJ International AI Programming Contest
SamurAI Coding 2017-18
http://samuraicoding.info/
Sponsored by Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ)
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*Important Dates*
- Deadline for entry to preliminary round: Thu Feb 8, 2018 AoE
- Result announcement: Wed Feb 14, 2018 (TBD)
16 teams will be selected. Among them, up to four teams will be selected
based on diversity and geographical distribution (TBD).
- World final round in Tokyo, Japan: Wed Mar 14, 2018
Collocated with 80th National Convention of IPSJ
https://www.ipsj.or.jp/event/taikai/80/english/index.html

*Overview*
Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) will hold an
international match-up artificial intelligence game-programming contest
"SamurAI Coding" in 2017-2018. The contest solicits contestants from all
over the world; there will be an online preliminary round for qualifying
to an onsite world final round in Tokyo, Japan. 16 teams will advance to
the world final round.

*Objective*
With the rapid advances in the Internet industry, IoT and Artificial
Intelligence technologies, there is an intensifying need for high
quality engineers and programmers. Information Processing Society of
Japan (IPSJ) has conducted the International AI programming Contest
"SamurAI Coding" every year since 2012, aiming to cultivate the younger
generation so they can become leading researchers, developers and be
successful on the global level.

*Game and AI*
Contestants compete on their design and engineering skills of algorithms
and AI strategies in addition to programming skills. See details at Game
Rules of SamurAI Jockey. SamurAI Jockey is a game played by two players.
Two players controlled by AI programs, changing their positions step by
step, compete for time to goal in a course with obstacles.

*Prize*
For Preliminary round contestants (including World Finalists):
Preliminary round contestants are given priorities for attending the
Banquet at the World final round on a first-come, first-served basis;
the number of Banquet participants is limited.
Students can freely attend sessions of the 80th National Convention
of IPSJ by registering at the Convention website.
https://www.ipsj.or.jp/event/taikai/80/adv_reserve.html
For World Finalists:
The top teams at the World Final will receive prizes. Moreover, there
will be some Sponsor Awards and Gifts (TBD). A few top teams at the
World Final will be selected as candidates of future IPSJ-IEEE Computer
Society Joint Award recipients.
World Final contestants who are not IPSJ members will receive one-year
IPSJ membership without any entry fee and annual fee. (The entry fee is
originally necessary for IPSJ regular members.)
Travel expense of one representative contestant per each World final
team participating from far away areas will be partially supported. Last
year World final contestants from outside of Japan received travel
expenses up to 100,000JPY per team, and contestants within Japan also
received travel expenses if they travelled for more than a certain
distance.
All World Final contestants will be awarded at the contest website.

*Eligibility*
There is no age limit. Moreover, contestants can participate in the
contest as individual or team; there is no maximum number of team
members.

*Submission*
Register your account and submit your program on the contest server.
See our website for more details.

*Sponsors and Supporters*
Sponsor:
Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ)

Gold Sponsors:
e-Seikatsu Co., Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd.

Supporters:
Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.
FUJITSU LIMITED

Supporters:
IEEE Japan Office
Information Technology Promotion Agency, Japan
International Information Science Foundation
Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association
Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association
Japan Society for Software Science and Technology
The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers
The Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
IEEE Computer Society
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
The Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers
IEEE Computer Society Tokyo/Japan Joint Chapter
(As of Dec. 28, 2017)

*Committee*
Director: Hironori Washizaki (Waseda U. / NII / SYSTEM INFORMATION)
Vice-Director: Tasuku Hiraishi (Kyoto University)
Executive Advisor: Takashi Chikayama (Professor Emeritus,
The University of Tokyo)
Member:
Ikuo Takeuchi (Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo)
Shingo Takada (Keio University)
Matsuki Yoshino (Hitachi, Ltd.)
Kazunori Sakamoto (National Institute of Informatics)
Tetsuro Tanaka (The University of Tokyo)
Makoto Miwa (Toyota Technological Institute)
Kiyokuni Kawachiya (IBM Japan, Ltd.)
Noriko Fukazawa (Railway Technical Research Institute)
Hiroshi Suzuki (FUJITSU LIMITED)
Game Design and Development Support:
Shingo Ohtsuka (Toyohashi University of Technology)

Contact: samurai-contact@ipsj.or.jp