User:Jasper van Loenen/grad/experiments

Aim:
After looking at them, it is time to make my own teleconferencing device!
Outcome:
Shaky and slow (the phone is too heavy for the motors), but it works. A website lets you control the camera (up, left, right, down) using php to sql to Arduino.

Aim:
Since I'm looking at AI and robots but never made a Game of life script, I guess that is where I'll start. I'll do it on a small Nokia screen using the Arduino, just for fun.
Outcome:
Writing the code was really easy actually, but the effect of the blobs moving over the screen is still nice. The only 'problem' was that I didn't get the high resolution (84x48) I wanted, since the Arduino doesn't have enough memory to hold the 84*48*2 pixel states, so 21x12 it is.

Aim:
Next is a bit more complicated virtual life: trying to create a simplistic version of Karl Sims' Evolved Virtual Creatures video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCXzcPNsqGA).
Outcome:
Fail.
The creature needs to go back to its previous state when a mutation didn't improve its capabilities, but this is not really possible in the way I've set up my code. I did find a great physics library so I will try again later.

Aim:
Experiment a bit with the Boids flocking behaviour. Outcome:
Boids is very interesting - the way different nodes respond to each other and can seek out goals for instance. But I'm basically just using an existing script which I can't really do anything with. I can't really improve it or anything. So, not a fail but at this point not something to look at further. Maybe later.

Aim:
Second try to create a simple version of Karl Sims' Evolved Virtual Creatures video: rewrote the code.
Outcome:
Success. Even though it is a very, VERY simple system with a lot of random variables, it does give the impression of a creature evolving.

Aim:
On of the most interesting things in the 'evolution' script, is how quickly you will see this moving block as some sort of a creature. If you know the aim of the script is to make the blocks hit the ball, you will really see the creature try to hit it. I wanted to catch this behavior in a small physical 'creature'.
Outcome:
Again the object - this time in the form of three motors, a switch and a battery on a wooden plate - really seems to know what it is doing (or trying to do). Even though nothing is scripted and there is no target, again this object seems to (sort of know) what it is doing.