In Artificial Life, the production of new artificial creatures always needs more and more computation power. Whereas artificial morphogenesis methods construct complete creatures using blocks, artificial embryogeny develops smaller creatures starting from a unique cell. To obtain a complete creature, organized in tissues and organs, we propose a developmental model in which cells are coded as t...

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...

Representations of monstrosity in literature reveal the cultural tensions specific historical periods, as collective social fears become embodied by creatures intended to disturb their audiences. Gothic novels late Victorian Era rely on these representations darkness society, and different monsters created authors reflect various views norms, particularly relation gender. This essay focuses Bra...

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...

In the past, evolved virtual creatures (EVCs) have been developed with rigid, articulated bodies, and with soft bodies, but never before with a combination of the two. In nature, however, creatures combining a rigid skeleton and non-rigid muscles are some of the most complex and successful examples of life on earth. Now, for the first time, creatures with fully evolved rigid-body skeletons and ...