Advances in AI technologies, brought forth by deep learning architectures, are incredible. There are cases where deep neural network driven models can rival human level performance but even the best performing models are driven by policies that are difficult, or in some cases impossible, to understand.

In the game, 2-dimensional spacecraft move to avoid collisions with numerous asteroids that appear. The asteroids have different shapes, sizes and velocities. The spacecraft is equipped with a laser to deal with those pesky space rocks. If the projectiles launched reach any of the targets, they break into smaller pieces. A control system must consider all the different features of the system and determine the movement and shooting decisions of the spacecraft. This year the challenge includes controlling a single spacecraft or a squadron, working together, to dispose of every last asteroid we can throw at you.