First evolved swimmer

[Snyphen356]

wow, these evolutionary programs are fascinating

[Phoboskomboa]

It doesn't matter at all if the physics are not right, or the creature is exploiting a bug to be able to move in a way that does not mimic real life. The entire point of the exercise is to introduce evolution to an environment and watch it progress. There is no reason whatsoever that the environment would need to be an analogue for the real universe.

[atomicpantz]

even though it is cheating it is still impressive that it evolved to the point that it could exploit the glitch therefore it is still more advanced then its predecessors.

[kjlg74]

@atomicpantz I agree. The cheaters can be interesting in their own way :)

[Yumminess0]

I believe it may be exploiting bugged inertia to use centripetal force to move forward.

[kjlg74]

@Yumminess0 I think you might be right. I never got water physics to work properly, so it's nearly a certainty that this creature is somehow cheating.

[Hemitris]

the physics seems all wrong

[kjlg74]

Yes, it definitely is all wrong. I never did get the water physics to work properly. The video title is misleading - whatever this creature is doing, it's not swimming.

[04carrolld]

like a fish in reverse

[spiderweb20]

I turn on water, and when i hit GO, the water disapears and the simulation runs in regular mode. any suggestions?

[PyroTomas]

i cant download it? says the links broken. i can get to the site but no download = (

[ahor65]

the download link was already fixed. you can download it now.

[latteanka]

It uses is mouth as a propeller!

[Krahl123]

how many generations did this take to create?

[kjlg74]

I don't recall. At least 100, I'd say.

[alliminator2]

the water wont work on mine who do i make it work

[kjlg74]

Sorry for the slow reply. I never really got the water working properly myself. This creature is in a "water" with super-low viscosity, and it's movements are more of a physics cheat than actually "swimming". My water environment tends to destroy creatures. I never got that fixed.

[Yumminess0]

does this app simulate air with water turned off?  if so, could you make a flying creature? if not, you could make water resistance except turned down to simulate air.

[kjlg74]

No. Unfortunately it's like being in empty space when water is turned off. I've seen the water with viscosity set very low, but it just doesn't behave like air. I can't really get the water drag forces to behave in a natural way - hopefully in some future version (and hopefully for air as well).

[BIGEE5]

How do four legos evolve to swim? I tried it in my pool...no luck.

[kjlg74]

I'd suggest swimming instructors, not evolution. Evolution only works on populations, not individuals. You want a completely different kind of learning algorithm. Not my department ;)

[joshig1983]

Is it wrong to think of individual learning as evolution of an individual?

[kjlg74]

No and yes.

The word "evolution" has many meanings. One of them is just "change" or "progress" and in those senses, yes, you're absolutely right: individual learning could be called evolution.

In the context of these videos though, the word refers to the Darwinian process of random variation and selection, which is a process that can be considered a form of learning, but not at the level on an individual.

I hope that helps :)

[joshig1983]

Do you think it is more accurate to think of evolution as a method of learning? How accurate would it be to say evolution is a way for a species to learn what variations are more fit to the current environment. It wouldn't be learning at the individual level, obviously, but at a genetic, instinctual level.

[kjlg74]

"Do you think it is more accurate to think of evolution as a method of learning?"

Absolutely, yes. I'd also call it a method of searching (from a computer science perspective, learning and searching are just two ways of viewing the same sort of thing)

"How accurate would it be to say evolution is a way for a species to learn what variations are more fit to the current environment."

Exactly. The population learns. The individual is endowed with the product of that learning, but is stuck with it.

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

oh common why can't we evolve water ones, why is to so unstable.

[kjlg74]

I just don't know enough about physics engines to make it work. With any reasonable amount of water viscosity the physics engine ends up experiencing what are called "numerical explosions" (and the creatures actually explode). I'm thinking of switching physics engines in the future. Maybe I'll have more luck.

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

(and the creatures actually explode)

I've saw that happen allot!

[kjlg74]

Yeah, you can see it just for an instant. The explosion breaks joints, and that triggers the program to delete the creature right away. Also, I color all the body parts brown for that instant (something I originally coded before the automatic delete, so it's still visible for a split second).

At first I thought it was just me, and something I was doing wrong. But then, as I read the academic papers from others who've done similar projects, they report exactly the same thing.

[kjlg74]

(I don't mean it can be seen in this video - but in the program)

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

yep

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

NEW CREATURE!!!

[The11thgrape]

Cute one. :)

[robotwo]

good start ^^ , keep it up. And u keep swimming little fella' =3