Week 1: Initial Meeting

by Oliver

Project Allocation

This week marked the beginning of a 12 week project developing an AI system. We were given the choice of multiple projects, which we would rank in order of preference and then be allocated. We had a range of projects to choose from:

• AI Racing League - Develop an AI race car using TORCS and IBM Granite
• AI Star Arena - Competitive Starship AI Battles Hackathon Package
• Market Strategy Game
• Gym-TORCS Kids: A Child-Friendly Introduction to AI Through Racing

The project we were allocated was our first choice - AI Racing League. We were then sent a project brief by John McNamara, our client at IBM. We were able to review the requirements of the project, and begin brainstorming ideas of how we could about the solution.

The First Facilitator Meeting

At our first facilitator meeting, we were spoken to about the details of our projects, and the various deliverables over the course of the next 12 weeks. These include a risk register (week 5), the requirements document (week 6), a demo presentation (week 10) and the completed project delivery (week 12). We also looked at our team management through epiGenisys, on which we would have our project requirements, and keep timesheets logging our work on the project.

The project itself would be in partnership with IBM, who would provide us with access to their services, such as their IBM Granite LLM, and also give specific training relevant to our project through IBM SkillsBuild.

Team Introductions

In our first team meeting, we all introduced ourselves and got to know each other. We expressed our interests in the project, and discussed our own strengths and weaknesses. This allowed us to allocate roles within the team, and ensure there was a strong professional and positive dynamic within the group.

• Rhys - Communications Lead
• Kerem - Developer
• Jimi - Developer
• Oli - Team Coordinator
• Lewis - Quality Assurance Lead
• Hannah - Code Reviewer