AbaAI

Introduction

AbaAI is an ambitious project aimed at developing a sophisticated AI to excel at the Abalone board game. By exploring and implementing advanced heuristics and strategies, our AI seeks to achieve unparalleled mastery of the game.

Project Goals

• To develop an AI that can consistently outperform human players in Abalone.
• To explore various heuristics and algorithms to find the most effective strategies for winning.
• To contribute to the AI and board game community by providing a fully open-source solution.

Application Website

You can access the application via the following url:

Aba AI

NOTE: This is hosted using a free cloud hosting service, and may not respond properly all the time.

Running the State-Space Generator

*Simplified instructions in GENERATOR_INSTRUCTIONS.md

Can be run from AbaAI/abaai-server/State_Space_Generator/state_space_generator.exe directly without the need for downloading if the repo is cloned (instructions below)

Prerequisites

• Working Test.input files

Step 1: Download State_Space_Generator.zip

1. Locate the file

On the repository main page, find State_Space_Generator.zip
Alternatively, it may be located in:
".\AbaAI\abaai-server\abalone\ai\State_Space_Generator.zip"

2. Download and unzip the file

Can be dowloaded directly in the directry if the repository is cloned, unzip the file by right-clicking it and selecting "Extract All..."
Alternatively, select the .zip folder in the repository, then in the github code file header select the dowload icon 

3. Insert input files and run the Executable

Navigate into the downloaded "State_Space_Generator" folder
Insert as many Test<#>.input files in the "input_files" folder as desired
Run the executable by double-clicking it, or by opening the command prompt in the "State_Space_Generator" and typing:
"state_space_generator_main.exe"

4. Find output files

Navigate to the "output_files" folder to find the Test<#>.move and Test<#>.board files for all input files

Local Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11 or higher is installed on your computer. Install Python Here
• Node 20.11 or higher is installed on your computer. Install Node Here

Step 1: Clone the project to your computer and navigate to directory

git clone <project url> <directory name>
cd <directory name>

Step 2: Start the backend Python server

1. Change directory to the abaai-server directory

   cd abaai-server
   

2. Initalize a python virtual environment

• Windows

  python -m venv venv
  

• Linux/MacOS

  python3 -m venv venv
  

3. Activate the virtual environment

• Windows

  .\venv\Scripts\activate
  

• Linux/MaxOS

  source venv/bin/activate
  

4. Install the dependencies from the requirements.txt file

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

5. Start the application server

• Windows

  python app.py
  

• Linux/MaxOS

  python3 app.py
  

Step 3: Start the front end React server

1. Open a separate terminal window

2. Change directory to the abaai-client directory. (from root directory)

   cd abaai-client
   
   or
   
   cd ../abaai-client // if navigating from abaai-server directory
   

3. Install the node dependencies

   npm install
   

4. Start the React server

   npm run dev
   

Step 4: Have fun