Problem 42397. Megan's walk

Can you make Megan (a stick-figure model of the popular XKCD character) walk straight?

http://www.alfnie.com/software/ms_walk.jpg

Megan's pose is defined by a 20-element "pose" vector. In this problem you are tasked with defining two pose vectors x1 and x2 such that the cyclic trajectory defined as:

 x(t) = sin(2*pi*t)*x1 + cos(2*pi*t)*x2

results in Megan walking as straight and as far as possible.

The vectors x1 and x2 must contain real numbers with absolute values not higher than 2. Your code will be scored as a function of how far (and straight) Megan reaches when the cyclic trajectory above is repeated between t=0 and t=4 (four full cycles). Megan needs to walk forward a minimum of 100 units (approximately 1m) to pass this problem (see testsuite for details)

I will update the links below with some of the best solutions:

  • Here a video of this problem's reference solution walking example (distance 4.59m)
  • Here a video of LY Cao leapfrogging strategy (solution 689805; distance 14.43m)
  • Here a video of James "walking with an attitude" solution (solution 689912; distance 4.95m)
  • Here a video of LY Cao "bitten by a radioactive spider" solution (solution 690182; distance 39.95m!)

Good luck and have fun!

Solution Stats

55.56% Correct | 44.44% Incorrect
Last Solution submitted on Feb 15, 2024

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