This book addresses topics of mobile multi-agent systems, pattern
formation, biological modelling, artificial life, unconventional
computation, and robotics. The behaviour of a simple organism which is
capable of remarkable biological and computational feats that seem to
transcend its simple component parts is examined and modelled. In this
book the following question is asked: How can something as simple as
Physarum polycephalum - a giant amoeboid single-celled organism which
does not possess any neural tissue, fixed skeleton or organised
musculature - can approximate complex computational behaviour during
its foraging, growth and adaptation of its amorphous body plan, and
with such limited resources? To answer this question the same apparent
limitations as faced by the organism are applied: using only simple
components with local interactions. A synthesis approach is adopted
and a mobile multi-agent system with very simple individual behaviours
is employed. It is shown their interactions yield emergent behaviour
showing complex self-organised pattern formation with material-like
evolution. The presented model reproduces the biological behaviour of
Physarum; the formation, growth and minimisation of transport
networks. In its conclusion the book moves beyond Physarum and
provides results of scoping experiments approximating other complex
systems using the multi-agent approach. The results of this book
demonstrate the power and range of harnessing emergent phenomena
arising in simple multi-agent systems for biological modelling,
computation and soft-robotics applications. It methodically describes
the necessary components and their interactions, showing how
deceptively simple components can create powerful mechanisms, aided by
abundant illustrations, supplementary recordings and interactive
models. It will be of interest to those in biological sciences,
physics, computer science and robotics who wish to understand how
simple components can result in complex and useful behaviours and who
wish explore the potential of guided pattern formation themselves.
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Multi-agent Modelling of Physarum Polycephalum
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9783319168234
Publisert
2018
Utgiver
Springer Nature
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter