This document expands on TR98-13, adding details consistent with operation of an initial prototype for AnimMagix and including projections for further development. AnimMagix is part of the Magix series of playful learning environments. In AnimMagix, children create whimsical creatures with anthropomorphic behaviors and launch them onto a field in which the creatures interact and affect one anot...

This paper describes a system for the evolution and co-evolution of virtual creatures that compete in physically simulated three-dimensional worlds. Pairs of individuals enter one-on-one contests in which they contend to gain control of a common resource. The winners receive higher relative fitness scores allowing them to survive and reproduce. Realistic dynamics simulation including gravity, c...

The design of virtual creatures shown in video [3] improves on the original design of Sims [4] by using the concept of historical markings for tracking the ancestry of every body part and every neuron of the creature throughout the evolution (a concept inspired by NEAT [5], an algorithm for evolution of neural networks). Historical markings are unique identifiers assigned to every body part and...

In this paper, we have used the immersed boundary method to solve the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for two immersed wings performing an idealized 'clap and fling' stroke and a 'fling' half-stroke. We calculated lift coefficients as functions of time per wing for a range of Reynolds numbers (Re) between 8 and 128. We also calculated the instantaneous streamlines around each wing throu...

The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura) is native to China and Japan, and was a new pest in Iowa in 2000. Aphid numbers were high in the 2001, but in 2002 and 2003, aphids appeared to be less of a problem. This small, yellow aphid has distinct black cornicles (“tailpipes”) on the tip of the abdomen and develops colonies on soybean plants as winged and wingless forms. Aphids feed through pi...

Bush bean, long bean, mung bean, and winged bean plants were grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 2, 4, and 6 g N m(-2) preceding rice planting. Concurrently, rice was grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 4, 8, and 12 g N m(-2). No chemical fertilizer was used in the 2nd year of crop to estimate the nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE), nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE), N uptake, and rice ...

The ultimate goal of nesting is the production of young and therefore predation and brood parasitism may constrain reproductive success. Breeding azurewinged magpies (Cyanopica cyanus) were exposed to mounts of an sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (i.e. an avian predator on adult and fledged chicks), a female great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) (i.e. a brood parasite that also preys on eggs ...

This paper describes a multi-user interactive installation featuring real time animated creatures and a mobile interaction paradigm. This paradigm has been designed to serve as a platform for education in a variety of content domains. Drawing on previous research in mobile computing and animated educational systems, this project contributes a novel metaphor for interactions among real and virtu...

The body-brain coevolution of aerial life forms has not been developed as far as aquatic or terrestrial locomotion in the field of artificial life. We are studying physically simulated 3D flying creatures by evolving both wing shapes and their controllers. A creature's wing is modeled as a number of articulated cylinders, connected by triangular films (patagia). The wing structure and its motor...

This research demonstrates that the motions of objects influence children’s attention to the parts of objects when learning nouns. Threeto five-year-old children viewed animated events involving bug-like creatures, each accompanied by one of two novel nouns. Nouns were differentiated by the creatures’ heads and legs. In addition, for some participants, the motions of the heads and legs distingu...