Artificial Life is a relatively new discipline that studies natural life by attempting to recreate behavioural characteristics of living systems. Alife is a large domain, and it overlaps with some aspects of AI. The aim of Alife is to contribute to a better understanding of natural life. The theories of Alife can be used to produce applications for use in robots, spacecraft, medicine, nano-technology, industrial fabrication and assembly, and other vital engineering projects.
To quote Chris Langton,Artificial Life is often described as attempting to understand high-level behaviour from low-level rules. A good example of this is the way in which the simple interactions between ants and their environment lead to complex trail-following behaviour. By simulating simple populations of self-replicating entities, these rules and behaviours can be understood. Understanding this relationship in particular systems could lead to solutions in complex real-world problems, such as disease prevention, stock-market prediction, and data-mining on the Internet.
Alife simulators are generally small programs, and they are written in order to extend research in Artificial Life. They usually involve algorithms that allow artificial creatures to exhibit behaviours, and to evolve and adapt to their environment.
To find out more about ALife, see my links page, or download my paper.
Here is a very good overview of ALife simulators by Howard Gutowitz.
Birds and fish, and many other creatures are able to travel in large groups and act as one unit. Their movement can be complicated, with varying velocities and direction. Moving as a group or flock is important as it makes it harder for predators to attack, and makes it easier to find food.
Flocking movement can be modelled by applying simple rules to individuals, which then gives rise to complicated movement when many individuals are placed in the environment. Craig Reynolds devised these rules for movement.
Reynolds theories illustrate a basic principle of adaptive systems and Artificial life, which is that of complex global behaviour spontaneously emerging. The flocking is an emergent behaviour because the complex behaviour was not specified in advance, but just happened. It is an example of where complex behaviour does not require a complex system of rules. It is important to note that although these theories can produce realistic movement, this does not necessarily mean that creatures in real life flock or group by using these rules.
A very good ALife simulator is boppers by Rudy Rucker.
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