Artificial Life

Experiencing the Big Idea

by Eugene Ch'ng

Shrewsbury Museum Service invited Dew Harrison to create a work relating to Charles Darwin for the bicentenary of his... more Shrewsbury Museum Service invited Dew Harrison to create a work relating to Charles Darwin for the bicentenary of his birth in the UK town. Her research is practise-led and uses computer technology to interlink series of related thoughts and ideas, in multimedia form. Texts, images, animations and sounds are networked into one overarching ‘concept’. The complete concept is then exhibited as a looped projected film or interactive screen work offering a contemporary understanding of a complex issue. She had previously worked with the ideas encapsulated within the work of Marcel Duchamp, in particular his Large Glass, which she transposed together with his boxes of notes and associated previous work, into one hypermedia system. Duchamp being the instigator of current Conceptual practice, his thinking began the shift of value within art from aesthetic to idea. This new challenge was to explicate the ideas of Darwin by synthesising them into one concept which could be grasped through audience interaction. Harrison is interested in relational works that invite an audience to participate together in revealing an understanding of the ‘concept’ on display. Earlier works used mouse and keypad to access a work, now the interfaces can involve sensors and physical movements for more playful and instinctive engagement. To develop the new project, Harrison worked in collaboration with two programmers and an animator to explore the ‘big idea ‘ of evolution and elicit an understanding of Darwinian adaptation through interactive installation.

For the new installation entitled Shift-Life they have produced an alternate, or fantasy, biological life as a project which delivers an implicit understanding of Darwinian evolution and examples the rapid life changes necessary for survival in accelerated alternating climatic conditions. Shift-Life is an installation which focuses on ‘hands-on’ possibilities for witnessing an evolutionary process in alternate life forms as they struggle to adapt to a volatile environment. In response to Darwin’s idea, the aim of this work was to create an ‘alternate’ biological life as a set of artificial or virtual organisms that possess similar biological processes to their ‘real’ counterparts, such as growth, reproduction, and adaptation. The virtual life forms exist in a nutritional (trophic) relationship of prey/predator, and include both rooted (sessile) and free ranging (vagile) organisms. Animal-intelligence was programmed into the virtual organisms to allow them survival strategies. The project also involved the construction of an enhanced mixed reality-based virtual environment to support the organisms. The climate of the virtual environment was directly influenced by the data gathered by wireless sensors (phidgets) in the real world landscape (sand box), plus implements (lights, shakers, pourers…) that altered the parameters (temperature, humidity, acidity, stability…) and so allowed visitors to change the condition of the virtual landscape.

The installation comprised of a large ’sand-pit’ box representing the virtual world terrain, this encouraged interactivity for visitors who could physically manipulate a set of implements to radically alter the living conditions of the fantasy creatures in their virtual ecosystem, projected into the installation space. By pouring liquids, switching on lights, moving objects etc., in the sand box, visitors could see immediate responses to their actions played out in the animated ecosystem as the life forms adapted to survive. Interacting with the real world landscape and
observing the instant affect a visitor’s actions had on the animated ecosystem projected into the installation space, proffered an understanding of how causing changes in environmental conditions, forces evolutionary developments on the life-forms in them.

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin in Shrewsbury and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. As part of the national celebrations underway, Shift-Life was exhibited at Shift-Time – a festival of ideas in Shrewsbury, summer 2009. It was still in its prototype stage and, following this beta-testing, it will be modified and enriched with extra behaviours and more sensitive environmental changes as we develop the project to more closely demonstrate Darwinian ideas for further exhibition.

Modelling the Adaptability of Biological Systems

by Eugene Ch'ng

The Open Journal of Cybernetics and Systemics

There are millions of species of organisms in estimation today, each possessing different preferences or tolerance... more There are millions of species of organisms in estimation today, each possessing different preferences or tolerance towards a multitude of factors; these factors include mainly competition between species and environmental conditions. From a computer modelling point of view, these biological systems could be difficult to implement. However, if a unified formula could be found to measure all of the factors against the preferences of each life form, its potentials for modelling open systems that require multiple external input variables could be significant. This article explores a formula and variations of it as applied first to measure sessile systems – vegetation, which requires multiple variables for determining its fitness, and then to a pilot study exploring its use for dynamic vagile systems. Experiments suggest that using the formula and variations of it on vegetation communities yielded distribution patterns similar to those in natural landscapes. Experiments using the formula in the pilot study showed characteristics of emergent behaviours as each dynamic system seeks its own ecological niche. The findings provided evidence that the formula could be extended for modelling a wide variety
of open biological systems.

Bottom-Up Visual Attention for Virtual Human Animation

by Christopher Edward Peters

Peters, C., and O' Sullivan, C. "Bottom-up visual attention for virtual human animation", Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA), Rutgers University, New York, pp. 111-117, 2003

We present a system for the automatic generation of bottom-up visual attention behaviours in virtual humans. Bottom-up... more We present a system for the automatic generation of bottom-up visual attention behaviours in virtual humans. Bottom-up attention refers to the way in which the environment solicits one’s attention without regard to task-level goals. Our framework is based on the interactions of multiple components: a synthetic vision system for perceiving the virtual world, a model of bottom-up attention for early visual processing of perceived stimuli, a memory system for the storage of previously sensed data and a gaze controller for the generation of resultant behaviours. Our aim is to provide a feeling of presence in inhabited virtual environments by endowing agents with the ability to pay attention to their surroundings.

Fundamentals of agent perception and attention modelling

by Christopher Edward Peters

Peters, C., Castellano, G., Rehm, M., Andre, E., Volpe, G., Camurri, A., Raouzaiou, A., Rapantzikos, K., Karpouzis, K., and Vasalou, A. .
In P. Petta, C. Pelachaud and R. Cowie (Eds.), Emotion-Oriented Systems: The Humaine Handbook, pp. 293-319, Cognitive Technologies Series, Springer, January 2011 isbn:978-3-642-15183-5
Bibtex available here:
http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~cpeters/bibtex/bibtex.html#HandbookPerception2011

Perception and attention mechanisms are of great importance for entities situated within complex dynamic environments.... more Perception and attention mechanisms are of great importance for entities situated within complex dynamic environments. With roles extending greatly beyond passive information services about the external environment, such mechanisms actively prioritise, augment and expedite information to ensure that the potentially relevant is made available so appropriate action can take place. Here, we describe the rationale behind endowing artificial entities, or virtual agents, with real-time perception and attention systems. We cover the fundamentals of designing and building such systems. Once equipped, the resulting agents can achieve a more substantial connection with their environment for the purposes of reacting, planning, decision making and, ultimately, behaving.

A head movement propensity model for animating gaze shifts and blinks of virtual characters

by Christopher Edward Peters

Peters, C. and Qureshi, A.
Computers and Graphics, Elsevier Science, 2010 doi:10.1016/j.cag.2010.09.007
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0097849310001408
Bibtex available here: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~cpeters/bibtex/bibtex.html#CG10

An automatic model is presented for animating gaze shifts of virtual characters towards target locations in a virtual... more An automatic model is presented for animating gaze shifts of virtual characters towards target locations in a virtual environment. Two connected components are described: an eye-head controller and a blinking controller. The gaze control model is based on results from neuroscience, and dictates the contributions of the eyes and head to a gaze shift according to an individual's head movement propensity; that is, their tendency to recruit their head when making gaze motions under different conditions. The blink controller simulates gaze-evoked blinking, a specific category of behaviours that accompany gaze shifts. The probability of occurrence of such blinks, and their amplitude, is related to the gaze shift. These factors may allow for more believable gaze behaviour, providing variety in animation. The model is of particular significance to serious game environments, where the quality of a character's gaze behaviour may affect engagement, immersion and learning outcomes.

Novelty processing and emotion: conceptual developments, empirical findings and virtual environments

by Christopher Edward Peters

Grandjean, D., and Peters, C.
In P. Petta, C. Pelachaud and R. Cowie (Eds.), Emotion-Oriented Systems: The Humaine Handbook, pp. 441-458, Cognitive Technologies Series, Springer, January 2011 isbn:978-3-642-15183-5
Bibtex available here: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~cpeters/bibtex/bibtex.html#HandbookNovelty2011

Novelty detection is a crucial ability of organisms to detect changes in the environment and to adapt their behaviours... more Novelty detection is a crucial ability of organisms to detect changes in the environment and to adapt their behaviours accordingly. In this chapter we review a conceptual framework of novelty detection informed by cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology. The relationship between attentional processes and novelty detection is also discussed and developed, supported by a case study highlighting methods for implementing a novelty detection capability for artificial agents in virtual environments.

Second Life as a Simulation Environment: Rich, high-fidelity world, minus the hassles.

by Vladislav "Dan" Veksler

Reactive Behaviours in Primordial Soup

by Jayanth Kannan

Life in time: The missing temporal dimension in autopoiesis (Abstract)

by Ezequiel Di Paolo

Di Paolo, E. (2008). Life in time: the missing temporal dimension in autopoiesis (abstract). In S. Bullock, J. Noble, R. Watson, and M. A. Bedau (eds.) Artificial Life XI: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, p. 761. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Simulation Models As Opaque Thought Experiments

by Ezequiel Di Paolo

Di Paolo, E. A., Noble, J. & Bullock, S. (2000). Simulation models as opaque thought experiments. Artificial Life VII: The Seventh International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA, 1-6 August, 2000.

We review and critique an range of perspectives on the scientific role of individual-based evolutionary simulation... more We review and critique an range of perspectives on the scientific role of individual-based evolutionary simulation models as they are used within artificial life. We find that such models have the potential to enrich existing modelling enterprises through their strength in modelling systems of interacting entities. Furthermore, simulation techniques promise to provide theoreticians in various fields with entirely new conceptual, as well as methodological, approaches. However, the precise manner in which simulations can be used as models is not clear. We present two apparently opposed perspectives on this issue: simulation models as "emergent computational thought experiments" and simulation models as realistic simulacra. Through analysis the role that armchair thought experiments play in science, we develop a role for simulation models as opaque thought experiments, that is, thought experiments in which the consequences follow from the premises, but in a non-obvious manner which must be revealed through systematic enquiry. Like their better-known transparent cousins, opaque thought experiments, when understood, result in new insights and conceptual reorganisations. These may stress the current theoretical position of the thought experimenter and engender empirical predictions which must be tested in reality. As such, simulation models, like all thought experiments, are tools with which to explore the consequences of a theoretical position.

Artificial life and historical processes

by Ezequiel Di Paolo

An Artificial Life-Based Vegetation Modelling Approach for Biodiversity Research

by Eugene Ch'ng

vegetation distribution modelling and simulation, biodiversity informatics,
artificial life, bottom-up approach, emergence

The complexity of nature can only be solved by nature’s intrinsic problem-solving approach. Therefore, the... more The complexity of nature can only be solved by nature’s intrinsic problem-solving approach. Therefore, the computational modelling of nature requires careful observations of its underlying principles in order that these laws can be abstracted into formulas suitable for the algorithmic configuration. This chapter proposes a novel modelling approach for biodiversity informatics research. The approach is based on the emergence phenomenon for predicting vegetation distribution patterns in a multi-variable ecosystem where Artificial Lifebased vegetation grow, compete, adapt, reproduce and conquer plots of landscape in order to survive their generation. The feasibility of the modelling approach presented in this chapter may provide a firm foundation not only for predicting vegetation distribution in a wide variety of landscapes, but could also be extended for studying biodiversity and the loss of animal species for sustainable management of resources.

A Behavioural Agent Model for Synthesising Vegetation Distribution Patterns on 3D Terrains

by Eugene Ch'ng

Applied AI.

Vegetations, similar to other organisms, persist on terrains based on niches of their abiotic and biotic environments.... more Vegetations, similar to other organisms, persist on terrains based on niches of their abiotic and biotic environments. Agent-based models of vegetation have demonstrated that, via the process of macro self-organisation, are capable of forming forests and undergrowth by means of their behaviour and the resources available in the ecosystem. In order to more accurately synthesise their collective behaviour, a set of rules encompassing basic vegetation behaviour were defined to enable realistic patterns to be formed locally via interaction and extra-locally via emergence in accord with their preferences in various controlled environments. Furthermore, the use of botanical parameters fine-tuned and regulated via simple rules could, in the near future, become a potential model for determining large-scale spatial and temporal distribution of dominant vegetation species, enhancing traditional methods and visualisation in studies related to forest dynamics and research in landscape reconstruction.

A Checkpoint-Orientated Model to Simulate Unconstrained Proliferation of Cells

by Jonathan Pascalie

Morphogen positioning by the means of a hydrodynamic engine

by Jonathan Pascalie

Synthetic protocell biology: from reproduction to computation

by Carlos Rodriguez-Caso

Meaning and motor actions: Artificial life and behavioral evidence

by Anna Borghi

Ro isla it Buruanga

by Historically Digitized

History of Families of Boracay

Angel_F

by Salvatore Iaconesi

co-authored with Oriana Persico, presented at Generative Arts 2009, at the Politecnico di Milano

Chatter and Listening: A wireless multi-node sound sculpture

by Miles Thorogood

In Proceedings of the 2007 Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC), Canberra, Australia, 2007. ACMC.