| |
Next
Previous
Contents
Alife takes yet another approach to exploring the mysteries of
intelligence. It has many aspects similar to EC and Connectionism, but
takes these ideas and gives them a meta-level twist. Alife emphasizes the
development of intelligence through emergent behavior of
complex adaptive systems. Alife stresses the social or group
based aspects of intelligence. It seeks to understand life and survival. By
studying the behaviors of groups of 'beings' Alife seeks to discover the
way intelligence or higher order activity emerges from seemingly simple
individuals. Cellular Automata and Conway's Game of Life are probably the
most commonly known applications of this field. Complex Systems
(abbreviated CS) are very similar to alife in the way the are approached,
just more general in definition (ie. alife is a type of complex system).
Usually complex system software takes the form of a simulator.
These are libraries of code or classes for use in programming within
the artificial life field. They are not meant as stand alone
applications, but rather as tools for building your own applications.
- CASE
CASE (Cellular Automaton Simulation Environment) is a C++
toolkit for visualizing discrete models in two dimensions:
so-called cellular automata. The aim of this project is to
create an integrated framework for creating generalized cellular
automata using the best, standardized technology of the day.
- Integrating Modelling Toolkit
The Integrating Modelling Toolkit (IMT) is a generic, comprehensive,
and extensible set of abstractions allowing definition and use of
interoperable model components. Modellers create an IMT "world" made
of IMT "agents" that will perform each a particular phase of a
modelling task. The core set of IMT agents can describe generic,
modular, distributed model components, either native to the IMT or
integrating existing simulation toolkits, specialized for tasks that
range from simple calculation of functions in an interpreted language
to spatially explicit simulation, model optimization, GIS analysis,
visualization and advanced statistical analysis. IMT agents are
designed to easily "glue" together in higher-level simulations
integrating different modelling paradigms and toolkits. The IMT can be
easily extended by users and developers through a convenient plug-in
mechanism
- John von Neumann Universal Constructor
The universal constructor of John von Neumann is an extension of
the logical concept of universal computing machine. In the cellular
environment proposed by von Neumann both computing and constructive
universality can be achieved. Von Neumann proved that in his cellular
lattice both a Turing machine and a machine capable of producing any
other cell assembly, when fed with a suitable program, can be
embedded. He called the latter machine a ''universal
constructor'' and showed that, when provided with a program
containing its own description, this is capable of self-reproducing.
- MAML
The current version of MAML is basically an extension to Objective-C
(using the Swarm libraries). It consists of a couple of
'macro-keywords' that define the general structure of a simulation. The
remaining must be filled with pure swarm-code. A MAML-to-Swarm (named
xmc) compiler is also being developed which compiles the source code
into a swarm application.
- Swarm
The swarm Alife simulation kit. Swarm is a simulation environment
which facilitates development and experimentation with simulations
involving a large number of agents behaving and interacting within a
dynamic environment. It consists of a collection of classes and
libraries written in Objective-C and allows great flexibility in
creating simulations and analyzing their results. It comes with three
demos and good documentation.
These are various applications, software kits, etc. meant for research
in the field of artificial life. Their ease of use will vary, as they
were designed to meet some particular research interest more than as
an easy to use commercial package.
- Achilles
Achilles is an evolution simulation based on Larry Yaeger's PolyWorld.
It uses Hebbian neural networks, and an extremely simplified physical
model that allows virtual organisms to interact freely in a simulated
environment.
- Avida
The computer program avida is an auto-adaptive genetic system designed
primarily for use as a platform in Artificial Life research. The avida
system is based on concepts similar to those employed by the tierra
program, that is to say it is a population of self-reproducing strings
with a Turing-complete genetic basis subjected to Poisson-random
mutations. The population adapts to the combination of an intrinsic
fitness landscape (self-reproduction) and an externally imposed
(extrinsic) fitness function provided by the researcher. By studying
this system, one can examine evolutionary adaptation, general traits of
living systems (such as self-organization), and other issues pertaining
to theoretical or evolutionary biology and dynamic systems.
- BugsX
Display and evolve biomorphs. It is a program which draws the
biomorphs based on parametric plots of Fourier sine and cosine series
and let's you play with them using the genetic algorithm.
- The Cellular Automata Simulation System
The system consists of a compiler for the Cellang cellular
automata programming language, along with the corresponding
documentation, viewer, and various tools. Cellang has been
undergoing refinement for the last several years (1991-1995),
with corresponding upgrades to the compiler. Postscript
versions of the tutorial and language reference manual are
available for those wanting more detailed information. The most
important distinguishing features of Cellang, include support
for:
- any number of dimensions;
- compile time specification of each dimensions size;
cell neighborhoods of any size (though bounded at compile time) and
shape;
- positional and time dependent neighborhoods;
- associating multiple values (fields), including arrays,
with each cell;
- associating a potentially unbounded number of mobile
agents [ Agents are mobile entities based on a mechanism of
the same name in the Creatures system, developed by Ian
Stephenson (ian@ohm.york.ac.uk).] with each cell; and
- local interactions only, since it is impossible to
construct automata that contain any global control or
references to global variables.
- Cyphesis
Cyphesis will be the AI Engine, or more plainly, the intelligence
behind Worldforge (WF). Cyphesis will aims to achieve 'live'
virtual worlds. Animals will have young, prey on each other and
eventually die. Plants grow, flower, bear fruit and even die just
as they do in real life. When completed, NPCs in Cyphesis will do
all sorts of interesting things like attempt to acomplish
ever-changing goals that NPCs set for themselves, gossip to PCs and
other NPCs, live, die and raise children. Cyphesis aims to make
NPCs act just like you and me.
- dblife & dblifelib
dblife: Sources for a fancy Game of Life program for X11
(and curses). It is not meant to be incredibly fast (use xlife for
that:-). But it IS meant to allow the easy editing and viewing of
Life objects and has some powerful features. The related dblifelib
package is a library of Life objects to use with the program.
dblifelib: This is a library of interesting Life objects,
including oscillators, spaceships, puffers, and other weird things.
The related dblife package contains a Life program which can read the
objects in the Library.
- Drone
Drone is a tool for automatically running batch jobs of a simulation
program. It allows sweeps over arbitrary sets of parameters, as well
as multiple runs for each parameter set, with a separate random seed
for each run. The runs may be executed either on a single computer or
over the Internet on a set of remote hosts. Drone is written in Expect
(an extension to the Tcl scripting language) and runs under Unix. It
was originally designed for use with the Swarm agent-based simulation
framework, but Drone can be used with any simulation program that
reads parameters from the command line or from an input file.
- EBISS
EBISS is a multi-disciplinary, open, collaborative project aimed
at investigating social problems by means of computational
modeling and social simulations. During the past four years we
have been developing SARA, a multi-agent gaming simulation
platform providing for easy construction of simulations and gamings.
We believe that in order to have a break-through in the difficult
task of understanding real-world complex social
problems, we need to gather researchers and experts with different
backgrounds not only in discussion forums, but in a
tighter cooperative task of building and sharing common
experimental platforms.
- EcoLab
EcoLab is a system that implements an abstract ecology model. It
is written as a set of Tcl/Tk commands so that the model
parameters can easily be changed on the fly by means of editing
a script. The model itself is written in C++.
- Game Of Life (GOL)
GOL is a simulator for conway's game of life (a simple cellular
automata), and other simple rule sets. The emphasis here is on
speed and scale, in other words you can setup large and fast
simulations.
- gant
This project is an ANSI C++ implementation of the Generalized Langton
Ant, which lives on a torus.
- gLife
This program is similiar to "Conway's Game of Life" but yet it is very
different. It takes "Conway's Game of Life" and applies it to a society
(human society). This means there is a very different (and much larger)
ruleset than in the original game. Things need to be taken into account
such as the terrain, age, sex, culture, movement, etc
- Grany-3
Grany-3 is a full-featured cellular automaton simulator,
made in C++ with Gtk--, flex++/bison++, doxygen and gettext, useful to
granular media physicists.
- Langton's Ant
Langton's Ant is an example of a finite-state cellular automata. The
ant (or ants) start out on a grid. Each cell is either black or white.
If the ant is on a black square, it turns right 90 and moves forward
one unit. If the ant is on a white square, it turns left 90 and moves
forward one unit. And when the ant leaves a square, it inverts the
color. The neat thing about Langton's Ant is that no matter what
pattern field you start it out on, it eventually builds a "road," which
is a series of 117 steps that repeat indefinitely, each time leaving
the ant displaced one pixel vertically and horizontally.
- LEE
LEE (Latent Energy Environments) is both an Alife model and a
software tool to be used for simulations within the framework of that
model. We hope that LEE will help understand a broad range of issues
in theoretical, behavioral, and evolutionary biology. The LEE tool
described here consists of approximately 7,000 lines of C code and
runs in both Unix and Macintosh platforms.
- Net-Life & ZooLife
*(netlife-2.0.tar.gz contains both Net-Life and ZooLife)
Net-Life is a simulation of artificial-life, with neural "brains"
generated via slightly random techniques. Net-Life uses artificial
neural nets and evolutionary algorithms to breed artificial organisms
that are similar to single cell organisms. Net-life uses asexual
reproduction of its fittest individuals with a chance of mutation
after each round to eventually evolve successful life-forms.
ZooLife is a simulation of artificial-life. ZooLife uses
probabilistic methods and evolutionary algorithms to breed
artificial organisms that are similar to plant/animal zoo
organisms. ZooLife uses asexual reproduction with a chance of
mutation.
- POSES++
The POSES++ software tool supports the development and
simulation of models. Regarding the simulation technique models
are suitable reproductions of real or planned systems for their
simulative investigation.
In all industrial sectors or branches POSES++ can model and
simulate any arbitrary system which is based on a discrete and
discontinuous behaviour. Also continuous systems can mostly be
handled like discrete systems e.g., by quantity discretion and
batch processing.
- Primordial Soup
Primordial Soup is an artificial life program. Organisms in the
form of computer software loops live in a shared memory space
(the "soup") and self-reproduce. The organisms mutate and
evolve, behaving in accordance with the principles of Darwinian
evolution.
The program may be started with one or more organisms seeding
the soup. Alternatively, the system may be started "sterile",
with no organisms present. Spontaneous generation of
self-reproducing organisms has been observed after runs as short
as 15 minutes.
- Tierra
Tierra's written in the C programming language. This source code
creates a virtual computer and its operating system, whose
architecture has been designed in such a way that the executable
machine codes are evolvable. This means that the machine code can be
mutated (by flipping bits at random) or recombined (by swapping
segments of code between algorithms), and the resulting code remains
functional enough of the time for natural (or presumably artificial)
selection to be able to improve the code over time.
- TIN
This program simulates primitive life-forms, equipped with some
basic instincts and abilities, in a 2D environment consisting of
cells. By mutation new generations can prove their success, and thus
passing on "good family values".
The brain of a TIN can be seen as a collection of processes, each
representing drives or impulses to behave a certain way, depending on
the state/perception of the environment ( e.g. presence of food,
walls, neighbors, scent traces) These behavior process currently are
: eating, moving, mating, relaxing, tracing others, gathering food and
killing. The process with the highest impulse value takes control, or
in other words: the tin will act according to its most urgent need.
- XLIFE
This program will evolve patterns for John Horton Conway's game
of Life. It will also handle general cellular automata with the
orthogonal neighborhood and up to 8 states (it's possible to recompile
for more states, but very expensive in memory). Transition rules and
sample patterns are provided for the 8-state automaton of E. F. Codd,
the Wireworld automaton, and a whole class of `Prisoner's Dilemma'
games.
- Xtoys
xtoys contains a set of cellular automata simulators for X windows.
Programs included are:
- xising --- a two dimensional Ising model simulator,
- xpotts --- the two dimensional Potts model,
- xautomalab --- a totalistic cellular automaton simulator,
- xsand --- for the Bak, Tang, Wiesenfeld sandpile model,
- xwaves --- demonstrates three different wave equations,
- schrodinger --- play with the Scrodinger equation in an adjustable potential.
Next
Previous
Contents
|
