Evolve 4.0

Evolve 4.0 is an open source, freeware artificial life simulator, developed by Ken Stauffer. It provides a virtual environment in which a number of digital organisms interact, fight for resources, and eventually reproduce and evolve. This version of the software was released in May of 2006. This simulator runs on Windows and the batch mode utility runs on Linux.

Evolve 4.0 is designed to simulate thousands of organisms for many billions of births and deaths. To achieve this level of performance the universe has been simplified to a 2D grid.

Simulator components

Simulation

Simulated universe

Evolution occurs inside a simplified 2D grid. Each discrete location can contain a cell, spore, barrier, or food. (Or the location can be empty). Each creature executes simple instructions like EAT, LOOK, MOVE, GROW, or MAKE-SPORE.

Genetics

The evolving agents contain a program which controls their life cycle. How they reproduce, move, eat, and interact with the universe is controlled by this genetic program. This language is called KFORTH. It is a forth-like language. All programs are compiled into a simple table which can be easily mutated and merged (during [...] reproduction).

Cells

Organisms consist of one or more cells. These cells all share the same genetic program. Specialization occurs when different cells are executing different parts of the program.

Spores

Spores allow reproduction to occur. A new organism gets created when a spore is created by a parent organism. Both asexual and [...] reproduction are supported.

Organic material

These are the food items that get created on the grid. The rules for their creation are based on what happens when one organism EAT's another organism. Usually there will be some left over cells that the predator missed. These missed cells become organic material (or food).

Barriers

The user can draw barriers using the mouse. Barriers introduce separation between different part of the 2D grid.

User interface

The application allows the user to create simulations, run them, and watch the evolving creatures. The user can inspect organisms and see its genetic program. The user may single step through the program and observe the stack and registers. Breakpoints can also be added to make debugging these creatures easier.

A 3D view (see screen shot above) allows the user to view the universe in 3D.

See also

• Digital organism
• Artificial life
• List of other Alife Simulators

External links

• Evolve 4.0 official webpage
• One Year of Alife project For one year a dedicated linux box will be running an Evolve 4.0 simulation.
• Biota.org interview with Ken Stauffer
• Evolve 4.0 Discussion Forum

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