To boldly go:an occam-π mission to engineer emergence

Future systems will be too complex to design and implement explicitly. Instead, we will have to learn to engineer complex behaviours indirectly: through the discovery and application of local rules of behaviour, applied to simple process components, from which desired behaviours predictably emerge through dynamic interactions between massive numbers of instances. This paper describes a process-oriented architecture for fine-grained concurrent systems that enables experiments with such indirect engineering. Examples are presented showing the differing complex behaviours that can arise from minor (non-linear) adjustments to low-level parameters, the difficulties in suppressing the emergence of unwanted (bad) behaviour, the unexpected relationships between apparently unrelated physical phenomena (shown up by their separate emergence from the same primordial process swamp) and the ability to explore and engineer completely new physics (such as force fields) by their emergence from low-level process interactions whose mechanisms can only be imagined, but not built, at the current time

Flocking Behaviour: Agent-Based Simulation and Hierarchical Leadership

We have studied how leaders emerge in a group as a consequence of interactions among its members. We propose that leaders can emerge as a consequence of a self-organized process based on local rules of dyadic interactions among individuals. Flocks are an example of self-organized behaviour in a group and properties similar to those observed in flocks might also explain some of the dynamics and organization of human groups. We developed an agent-based model that generated flocks in a virtual world and implemented it in a multi-agent simulation computer program that computed indices at each time step of the simulation to quantify the degree to which a group moved in a coordinated way (index of flocking behaviour) and the degree to which specific individuals led the group (index of hierarchical leadership). We ran several series of simulations in order to test our model and determine how these indices behaved under specific agent and world conditions. We identified the agent, world property, and model parameters that made stable, compact flocks emerge, and explored possible environmental properties that predicted the probability of becoming a leader.Flocking Behaviour; Hierarchical Leadership; Agent-Based Simulation; Social Dynamics

Advancing performability in playable media : a simulation-based interface as a dynamic score

When designing playable media with non-game orientation, alternative play scenarios to gameplay scenarios must be accompanied by alternative mechanics to game mechanics. Problems of designing playable media with non-game orientation are stated as the problems of designing a platform for creative explorations and creative expressions. For such design problems, two requirements are articulated: 1) play state transitions must be dynamic in non-trivial ways in order to achieve a significant level of engagement, and 2) pathways for players’ experience from exploration to expression must be provided. The transformative pathway from creative exploration to creative expression is analogous to pathways for game players’ skill acquisition in gameplay. The paper first describes a concept of simulation-based interface, and then binds that concept with the concept of dynamic score. The former partially accounts for the first requirement, the latter the second requirement. The paper describes the prototype and realization of the two concepts’ binding. “Score” is here defined as a representation of cue organization through a transmodal abstraction. A simulation based interface is presented with swarm mechanics and its function as a dynamic score is demonstrated with an interactive musical composition and performance

Natural Selection: A Stethoscopic Amphibious Installation.

This paper discusses emergence as a complex behaviour in the sound domain and presents a design strategy that was used in the creation of the sound installation Natural Selection to encourage the perception of sonic emergence. The interactions in Natural Selection are based on an algorithm derived from an innately sonic emergent ecological system found in nature, that of mating choices by female frogs within a calling male frog chorus. This paper outlines the design and implementation of the installation and describes the research behind its design, most notably the notion of embodiment within a sonic environment and its importance to the perception of sonic emergence

Boids On Wheels A Proof of Concept Study of the Boid as a Vehicle

The following project is a proof of concept study exploring the feasibility of simulating traffic as a multi-agent system, with the individual vehicle being implemented as a boid as defined by C. Reynolds in 1987. Furthermore, the simulator is to serve as a tool for urban planning. This thesis first explores the growth in using computers to simulate traffic since the 1940s, along with a brief review of the work done on Reynolds’ boids. This is followed by a discussion of tool selection and the reasons behind it. Secondly the thesis discusses the different steering behaviours developed for a boid vehicle,as well as their implementation. This is followed by a description of the preliminary evaluations carried out and the problems encountered. Finally the thesis concludes with some ideas for further research and the conclusion that within the scope of this project, implementing the boid as a vehicle was found to be feasible, and ripe for further wor

Boids On Wheels A Proof of Concept Study of the Boid as a Vehicle

The following project is a proof of concept study exploring the feasibility of simulating traffic as a multi-agent system, with the individual vehicle being implemented as a boid as defined by C. Reynolds in 1987. Furthermore, the simulator is to serve as a tool for urban planning. This thesis first explores the growth in using computers to simulate traffic since the 1940s, along with a brief review of the work done on Reynolds’ boids. This is followed by a discussion of tool selection and the reasons behind it. Secondly the thesis discusses the different steering behaviours developed for a boid vehicle,as well as their implementation. This is followed by a description of the preliminary evaluations carried out and the problems encountered. Finally the thesis concludes with some ideas for further research and the conclusion that within the scope of this project, implementing the boid as a vehicle was found to be feasible, and ripe for further wor

The design and simulation of traffic networks in virtual environments

For over half a century, researchers from a diverse set of disciplines have been studying the behaviour of traffic flow to better understand the causes of traffic congestion, accidents, and related phenomena. As the global population continues to rise, there is an increasing demand for more efficient and effective transportation infrastructures that are able to accommodate a greater number of civilians without compromising travel times, journey quality, cost, or accessibility. With recent advances in computing technology, transportation infrastructures are now typically developed using design and simulation packages that enable engineers to accurately model large-scale road networks and evaluate their designs through visual simulation. However, as these projects increase in scale and complexity, methodologies to intuitively design more complex and realistic simulations are highly desirable. The need of such technology translates across to the entertainment industry, where traffic simulations are integrated into computer games, television, film, and virtual tourism applications to enhance the realism and believability of the simulated scenario. In this thesis two significant challenges related to the design and simulation of traffic networks for use in virtual environments are presented. The first challenge is the development of intuitive techniques to assist the design and construction of high-fidelity three-dimensional road networks for use in both urban and rural virtual environments. The second challenge considers the implementation of computational models to accurately simulate the behaviour of drivers and pedestrians in transportation networks, in real time. An overview of the literature in the field is presented in this work with novel contributions relating to the challenges defined above

The Emergence of Lines of Hierarchy in Collective Motion of Biological Systems

The emergence of large scale structures in biological systems, and in particular the formation of lines of hierarchy, is observed in many scales, from collections of cells to groups of insects to herds of animals. Motivated by phenomena in chemotaxis and phototaxis, we present a new class of alignment models which exhibit alignment into lines. The spontaneous formation of such ``fingers" can be interpreted as the emergence of leaders and followers in a system of identically interacting agents. Various numerical examples are provided, which demonstrate emergent behaviors similar to the ``fingering'' phenomenon observed in some phototaxis and chemotaxis experiments; this phenomenon is generally known as a challenging pattern to capture for existing models. The novel pairwise interactions provides a fundamental mechanism by which agents may form social hierarchy across a wide range of biological systems