Color Sudoku game adds twist to computing

Bryn Nelson Columnist

An interactive Sudoku game that features shifting color patterns is adding a new twist to the popular puzzle, a novelty its creators hope will spur wider recognition for a rather unorthodox way of thinking about computing. 

Designed by Antony Harfield, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, the online game is one of many programs designed by the department’s researchers to explore the interplay between logic and perception as humans interact with computers.

The theme is central to what the scientists call Empirical Modelling, a 25-year-old approach that has yet to be widely embraced by the larger field of computer science. Nevertheless, its backers believe the unique take on programming could be harnessed for creative applications in artificial intelligence, computer graphics, automation and educational technology.

“It’s really, we believe, quite a radical alternative to computation,” said Steve Russ, a lecturer in computer science at the university. “It’s not replacing it — it’s just saying there’s an awful lot more that we need computers for than just algorithms.”

The human factor
Empirical Modelling, he said, pays more attention to what humans take into account and provides a practical means to explore problems that aren’t so cut and dry. Our thought processes include reasoning, of course, but Russ said we’re always on the lookout for rumors, body language and other signs of potential deception that get built into our experience. Plus, we often learn from our mistakes.

For Sudoku, understanding can emerge through a mix of perception, expectation, experience and logic — a combination Russ said is a far cry from how traditional computer programs would try to solve the puzzle. Color adds yet another dimension to the human problem-solving repertoire, in this case for a game normally associated with numbers.

In regular Sudoku, players try to correctly arrange the numerals 1 through 9 within a partially completed grid of 81 boxes.

The new version has assigned a unique color to each numeral: 1 may be matched with red, for example, while 2 equals brown and 3 a forest green. Squares with numbers already in place on the game board are colored accordingly, while each empty square assumes a blend of colors representing the possible digits that could go there. As a player fills in more numbers, the open squares change colors to reflect the new limitations — with a blend of red, brown and forest green perhaps serving as a shorthand note that either 1, 2 or 3 must belong in the square. 

An empty square colored the same as a completed square must contain the same digit, whereas a black square means the player has made a mistake. The game’s interactive element allows players to change the colors assigned to each digit and even brighten them during a game to see how the Sudoku board’s pattern changes accordingly, providing even more clues toward the solution. Sudoku fans can try the game here. (Requires a Flash 9 download.)

Deconstructing a train accident
Deciphering Empirical Modelling’s core principles can be daunting for those unaccustomed to its jargon, reliance on definitions or unique programming language, though its backers believe its spreadsheet-like framework translates well to real-world applications.

One favorite example is the famous Clayton Tunnel railway accident near Brighton, England, in 1861. By all accounts, the interactions between personnel and the telegraph and signal-based system used to control tunnel access went badly wrong, leading to the collision of two trains and the deaths of 23 passengers.

Reports after the accident centered on whether one train driver approaching the tunnel had seen the signalman wave his red flag as a signal to stop. He apparently had, despite the signalman’s doubts, and stopped the train after entering the tunnel. A subsequent telegraph miscommunication led the signalman to wave the following train into the tunnel, leading to the catastrophic pile-up.

For their Clayton Tunnel project, Warwick researchers created a computer-assisted environment that explores the roles of the drivers, signalmen and other railway personnel leading up to the accident. Two graduate students designed a role-playing tool that lets schoolchildren on six different workstations see unique vantages of the scene and its components, such as the controls or the warning flag.

“The point would be that we are including those experiences, the view of the red flag on the screen, within our thinking about computation,” Russ said.  “It’s not that it’s just a spin-off or side-effect of the program. That’s going to be included in what we’re calling computation.”

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