Showing posts with label minimal path. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minimal path. Show all posts
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Video: Robotic Ants Solve Riddles Without Math
Video: Robotic Ants Solve Riddles Without Math: Researchers used tiny, cube-shaped robots that were powered by watch motors and ran on dime-sized wheels. They gave the machines three rules: to walk randomly in a given direction, to turn away from obstacles they bump into, and to follow a trail of light left by other robots (as seen in the video)—similar to the way real ants use their antennae to sense chemicals left behind by other ants. These simple tenets were enough to allow the robots to copy ants' ability to find the shortest path home.
Labels:
computation,
emergence,
hive,
minimal path,
robotics,
simulation,
swarm
Monday, March 25, 2013
Shrinking Blob Computes Travelling Salesman Solutions
Shrinking Blob Computes Travelling Salesman Solutions: In simplified terms, the blob clings to the dots as it shrinks, linking them with a minimal surface, rather like a soap bubble surface. “As the blob shrinks it morphologically adapts to the configuration of the cities,” they say...
The magic ingredient in all this is the special goo. It consists of many particles that each move according to a set of simple rules, like autonomous agents. These sit in a sea of “chemoattractant”, a virtual scent that the particles are attracted to. At each stage in the calculation, each particle senses the chemoattractant around it and then moves towards the region of highest concentration. As it moves, it leaves behind its own trace of the chemoattractant for other particles to follow.
The magic ingredient in all this is the special goo. It consists of many particles that each move according to a set of simple rules, like autonomous agents. These sit in a sea of “chemoattractant”, a virtual scent that the particles are attracted to. At each stage in the calculation, each particle senses the chemoattractant around it and then moves towards the region of highest concentration. As it moves, it leaves behind its own trace of the chemoattractant for other particles to follow.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Pulsing blob makes memories sans brain | Life | Science News
Pulsing blob makes memories sans brain | Life | Science News: The egg-yolk-colored slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a single cell without any nervous system. But this blob of a creature uses its slime trails as a form of external spatial memory...
As a brainless blob it can solve some remarkable problems. Given some time, a single slime mold oozing through a maze tends to consolidate into strands along the shortest paths. Given a surface with food flakes placed at important population centers or other points of interest, a slime mold eventually forms a pattern similar to road maps of real countries (such as Spain) or real subway systems (such as Tokyo)...
As a brainless blob it can solve some remarkable problems. Given some time, a single slime mold oozing through a maze tends to consolidate into strands along the shortest paths. Given a surface with food flakes placed at important population centers or other points of interest, a slime mold eventually forms a pattern similar to road maps of real countries (such as Spain) or real subway systems (such as Tokyo)...
Labels:
computation,
emergence,
minimal path
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