Abstract

Interdisciplinary introduction to a broad range of topics relevant for the understanding of the rapidly developing field of artificial life: complex and dynamical systems; emergence and self-organization; pattern formation (cellular automata, reaction-diffusion systems, Lindenmeyer systems); morphogenesis; collective behaviour; evolutionary methods; agent based simulation and the evolution of co-operation; self-assembly; self reproduction; living technology and “wet” artificial life from an IT-perspective; “artificial societies” and “artificial creatures”. Especially emphasized is the embedding of artificial life in the broader context of  biology, physics, modern bio-mimetic/bio-inspired engineering and artificial intelligence. We will present applications to optimization problems, robotics, living technology and bio-inspired approaches in modern technology.

Short presentations

Every student is expected to prepare and present a single short (about 15 minutes) presentation about a topic in Alife of his/her own choice. Students should consult us about their selected topic at least one week in advance. In general, there are no restrictions to what is acceptable as topic as long as the topic has anything to do with artificial life. So students can chose to elaborate on a scientific publication, a science fiction novel, a computer game to name just a few examples.

Here is a list of potential topics for presentation or starting points for your search:

• Five rules for the evolution of cooperation, Nowak, Science, 2006.
• Plants and patterns of communication. Bio-communication in plants, Witzany, Nature, 2007.
  
• Complex spatial group patterns result from different animal communication mechanisms, Eftimie et.al., PNAS, 2006
• Artificial life and science fiction. Describe a character or a plot from the cross-road of these two fields. A starting point for the search of a choice could be here.
• Artificial life and art. Choose a topic at the junction of the two fields. Helpful links could be this directory or this book.
• Evolutionary Conditions for the Emergence of Communication in Robots,  Floreano et.al., Elsevier, 2007.
• Artificial life and ecology. One choice could be this paper.
• Synthetic genomes. A new code for life,  Rinaldi, EMBO Reports, 2004.
  
• Self-replicating materials.
• NEW. Patterns as supportive design for life and growth and as tools for quantifying life and beauty. The architect's view.  The nature of order, Christopher Alexander
  

Feel free to explore other interesting topics.

Please arrange your talk at least one week in advance with both Dana Damian (damian at ifi uzh ch) and Juan Pablo Carbajal (carbajal at ifi uzh ch).

Hands-on Project and Exam

There will not be any homework assignments, but everybody will have to work on a hands-on project. It should be fun and stimulating, and should keep you "busy" for roughly 40-60 hours/person. Depending on background, students will either tackle a literature review project or a software project (e.g. using NetLogo, Matlab or any programming language of choice). The ideal result of the hands-on projet will be a "short" scientific paper/report, 4-10 pages long, written in German or in English (English is prefered). The project is to be completed in groups of two or individually. The deadline will be announced. The exam will take place on June 8, 2009 from 10:15 to 12:00, the room will be announced in time. Note that it will be a closed-book exam (in other words: you are not allowed to bring along the lecture notes).

Here is a list of suggested project topics:

• Cellullar atomata
  • Band of life: Game of life playing music by Raphael Schär.
  • Check Wolframresearch demos!
  • A nice repository of Game of life living ptterns.
• Complex networks
  • Two nice introductory papers:
    1. Exploring Complex Networks (S. Strogatz, 2001).
    2. The Physics of Networks (M. Newman, 2008).
• Diffusion-limited aggregation
  • A simple example.
  • Idea: 2D growing structure under the action of external agents. Study a 2D growing system (like the one in the example), then add environment and study the patterns emerging form the interaction!
• Group Behavior
  • Idea: Pick the Boids from Craig Reynolds, modify thier morphology (sensors, actuators) and get new behaviors!
  • Some examples.
• L-systems
  • Idea: Build a L-system that uses sensory information to grow: Chemotaxis, Galvanotaxis, Magnetotaxis, Phototaxis, Gravitaxis...
  • Some L-systems without external agents.
  • Two references:
    1. Prof. Peter Stucki.
    2. Dr. P. Prusinkiewicz.
• Self-assembly
  • How does the assembly of attracting 2D objects depend on their shape?
  • Watch two simple videos:
    1. Squares and circles.
    2. Triangles and circles.
• Slimebot
  • Can a group of connected agents move without central control?
  • Watch the videos from Maggiol.
    

Please send in your ideas and proposals for the practical project via email to Juan Pablo Carbajal ( carbajal at ifi uzh ch ) and Dana Damian ( damian at ifi uzh ch ) .

Prep Questions

We have assembled a number of questions to give you ways to practice the contents of the lecture. You are furthermore encouraged to submit your own questions!

Schedule

16.02.2009 Intro, overview, history

23.02.2009 On complexity, patterns

02.03.2009 Cellular automata

09.03.2009 Emergence and self organized criticality

16.03.2009 Swarms and collective intelligence

23.03.2009 NetLogo: Turtles and Patches, artificial societies and evolution of cooperation

30.03.2009 Artificial Evolution I

06.04.2009 Artificial Evolution II

20.04.2009 Self replication

27.04.2009 Self assembly I

04.05.2009 Self assembly II

11.05.2009 Computational ecologies and general modelling techniques

18.05.2009 “Wet” artificial life, living technology

25.05.2009 Summary and conclusions

Note

The website has a preliminary content and will be subjected to change.