Jumping Horsey - Evolved Virtual Creature

The "Pirouette" / "Delicate Balance" run continues in new directions once again.

3DVCE is free to download on the web:
http://www.stellaralchemy.com/lee/virtual_creatures.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 3D
• virtual
• creature
• evolution
• genetic
• algorithm
• programming
• simulation
• physics
• artificial
• life
• intelligence
• software
• fitness
• graphics
• population
• animation
• adaptation
• generations
• computation
• morphology
• mutant

[mattkaythetimelord]

Great work!

[kjlg74]

@mattkaythetimelord Thanks :)

[Sara3346]

Reward them with cookies?

[kjlg74]

@MaestroAlvis I really like those creatures that do something interesting like flip themselves over before doing the "real" work.

What I had in mind for repeated jumping was like this...

1) Track center-of-mass height during evaluation

2) Determine range (lowest height to highest)

3) Any time they've gone from the lower quarter of the range to the higher quarter is a "jump" event with an associated height

4) Reward them for the sum of all jump heights (or maybe top N jump heights)

[MaestroAlvis]

@kjlg74 lol, your good.

To get repeated jumps I would first use a jumping fitness with a short run time so that it develops a way of jumping and then switch to an average height fitness over a longer time. One of my current creatures did something interesting, it started out by falling over itself, does a somersault and then launches it's self in the air. Didn't do too well so I don't think it will develop though.

[kjlg74]

@MaestroAlvis A cheater?! :D Well, inadvertently I suppose. I'll have to be more careful that the videos don't mislead.

As for doing random movements after the first jump, I think I know an easy way to reward repeated jumps. Perhaps I'll implement that (if I ever get past the bug I'm tracking down now).

I hope you'll let me know if you get a good jumper.

[MaestroAlvis]

@kjlg74 Ahhhh, sorry I was under the impression you weren't a cheater. I started a new jumping evolution just a second ago. pop size 25, tournament 5. 500 frames to jump as high as possible. Lets see if I get something nice.

[kjlg74]

@MaestroAlvis It's generation 55000 or so (very small population size though, only 10 creatures).

Each jump that the creature does in this video is a separate recording. It does appear as though it lands ready to jump again, but it doesn't really (well, it does, but not very often). It wiggles around uselessly (mostly) after the first jump, just like the creatures you describe. I just didn't bother recording that movement for the video.

[MaestroAlvis]

Wow so what generation is that?

I really like that after it jumps, it immediately returns to it's jumping position. In my evolutions with a jumping fitness plan. It would jump once at the beginning and then just wriggle on the floor. I'm guessing this is because I just wanted maximum hight, not average height.

[kjlg74]

@snowlionud Yep, perfectly normal. Those sudden changes are the program finishing one creature in the population and moving to the next one. Once it gets through every creature in the population it will move to the first creature in the next generation, and so on. Pressing "G" will bring up a display where you can see which generation you're one and which creature in that generation. Creature zero is always the best creature from the last generation and the rest are all offspring.