(Emergent Morphology)

11 Conclusion

I have demonstrated that morphology is a phenotypic feature which can emerge alongside locomotion behavior, as a result of rewarding animats for covering longer distances during evaluation. I have also shown that adding secondary fitness terms pertaining to motions and positioning of the head can contribute to the emergence of familiar animal forms and motions, as well as some unfamiliar (but funny) characters.

This paper offers a brief look at an artist's use of artificial life techniques and concepts as applied to an expressive medium - character animation. In the Disney tradition, animation is the illusion of life. In adopting bottom-up, emergence methodologies, character animation research adds to this the simulation of life. The explorations described in this paper are an example of taking this approach towards enriching the art form.

Acknowledgements

This work was produced in the Visible Language Workshop, of the Media Lab at MIT, directed by Muriel Cooper. I would like to acknowledge Joe Marks and Mitch Resnick for their suggestions and advice. Special thanks goes to Ron MacNeil, Suguru Ishizaki, and Louie Weitzman for technical help and many useful ideas.

This work was sponsored in part by PAWS, Inc., USDOT, and News In the Future consortium.

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