“We encouraged the students to brainstorm, to watch videos of the band, and we asked them why a human can plan the transitions, and why a computer couldn’t,” Chow says. “We didn’t know what the solution would be when we assigned the project.”
Now the band has a new tool to use. While there is no expectation of a quid pro quo, Chow does say, “Ultimately, it would be super cool if the band performed an E7 formation.”
See: Better Marching through algorithms (Berkeley Engineering, 7/15/16)
See also: Students in E7 Intro to Computing solve Cal Band Challenge