Evolution Software

A

ahwilliams

Registered Member
I just finished a project I've been contemplating for quite some time. Its a simple program with little creatures that evolve over time and I've been able to evolve a few interesting creatures. Things that evade other creatures, find food, avoid walls etc, however it takes time. Not quite as much time as real world evolution but enough to make me wish there were a few more instances of the program running. I was wondering if anyone with some knowledge of actual evolutionary processes wanted to give it a try and some feedback?

The software can be found at lexicon-labs dot com - sorry cant post links yet :(

Thanks!
 
Thanks spidergoat!

I had no knowledge of particle swarm optimization prior to authoring the software, so probably not!

A quick read (Very quick) of PSO I would say its possible the creatures are exhibiting and emergent PSO. I have had creatures that move in a direction and change direction based on the one in front of it and seem to "swarm", but this might not be exactly what the concept refers to.
 
Its not your fault

This is an early release and not very well documented yet.

In a nutshell you are looking at 100 creatures that were randomly generated with a few start up mutations. The point of the software is to take creatures and apply random mutations to see what properties will emerge in given environments and adversities. Initially only a few of the random creatures survive but within a few generations you should have a few species that can at least find food or some strategy to live long enough to reproduce.

There are things you can do to the environment to 'encourage' different creatures to evolve but it can take a bit of time and a significant percent of your processor (or one of them anyway in a multiprocessor system).
 
leopold99 said:
is this more of an experiment into AI instead of biological evolution?
Click to expand...

You may be right, I originally wanted to simulate the biological aspects of evolution but found the overhead is too great to make it interesting. I cut some corners to keep the process simple and yet the program only runs 500-2000 movements per minute!

My friend who I collaborated on this project with while he concurrently did his own is far more of a purist than I and has a much prettier and more pure solution to the evolution software...

www dot skullsprout dot com (still cant post urls)

Mine simply tries to see what types of behaviors and structures will evolve with a given set of environment variables. What really pleases me is that after writing the software I had no idea what might evolve and am still surprised by the creatures that develop.
 
makes a person wonder whether a computer can actually create something doesn't it?
i've written software like that.
i'm still amazed at some of the designs it draws.
 
ahwilliams said:
Thanks spidergoat!

I had no knowledge of particle swarm optimization prior to authoring the software, so probably not!

A quick read (Very quick) of PSO I would say its possible the creatures are exhibiting and emergent PSO. I have had creatures that move in a direction and change direction based on the one in front of it and seem to "swarm", but this might not be exactly what the concept refers to.
Click to expand...

You really need to look into this. Swarm intelligence is not only mind blowing and worth reading about on its own, it's also very relevant to your research. There is plenty of info online, but I can recomend you a book.
 
ahwilliams said:
I just finished a project I've been contemplating for quite some time. Its a simple program with little creatures that evolve over time and I've been able to evolve a few interesting creatures. Things that evade other creatures, find food, avoid walls etc, however it takes time. Not quite as much time as real world evolution but enough to make me wish there were a few more instances of the program running. I was wondering if anyone with some knowledge of actual evolutionary processes wanted to give it a try and some feedback?

The software can be found at lexicon-labs dot com - sorry cant post links yet :(

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'll take a look later and you might want to check out some of these digital life simulators (or even make yours an official submission):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_organism_simulators#Notable_simulators

If you're interested in a code review I would be happy to take a look; however, if this is something that is owned by a company that can't be shared then I will understand.
 
I would love that varda, obviously I am fascinated with the subject.

Leopold99, thats exactly what excited me to start this project. I would love to see something completely unexpected emerge.
 
Thanks!

I have gotten great feedback on the software and wanted to thank you.

There is a new version of the software at www dot lexicon-labs dot com that uploads your best creatures to the internet and downloads other best creatures after one of your creatures reaches the 10th generation.

I am hopeful that this will increase the genetic pool and make the simulation more interesting.
 
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