Agent based modeling-presentation

Adam Getchell
Nonlinear Physics: Modeling Chaos and Complexity

What is an Agent?
Historically related to the Von Neumann machine, as
later improved by Stanislaw Ulam into the first agent-
based device – the cellular automata
Agents have:
 Activity
 Autonomy
 Heterogeneity

Agent Activity
 Goal-direction
 Reactivity/Perceptivity to its surroundings (model)
 Mobility: Able to roam the model space independantly
 Bounded Rationality (imperfect information)
 Interacts/exchanges information with other agents,
which may in turn cause:
 Adaptation: Change in behavior based on interactions
with the model or other agents

What is a Model?import breve
class myControl( breve.Control ):
def __init__( self ):
breve.Control.__init__( self )
self.walkerShape = None
myControl.init( self )
def getWalkerShape( self ):
return self.walkerShape
def init( self ):
print '''Setting up the simulation.'''
self.pointCamera( breve.vector( 0, 0, 0 ), breve.vector( 0, 60, 0 ) )
self.walkerShape = breve.createInstances( breve.Sphere, 1 ).initWith( 1 )
breve.createInstances( breve.RandomWalker, 200 )
breve.myControl = myControl
class RandomWalker( breve.Mobile ):
breve.Mobile.__init__( self )
RandomWalker.init( self )
def init( self ):
self.setShape( self.controller.getWalkerShape() )
self.setColor( breve.randomExpression( breve.vector( 1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000 ) ) )
self.move( breve.randomExpression( breve.vector( 0.100000, 0.100000, 0.100000 ) ) )
def iterate( self ):
self.setVelocity( ( breve.randomExpression( breve.vector( 60, 60, 60 ) ) - breve.vector( 30, 30, 30 ) ) )
breve.RandomWalker = RandomWalker
# Create an instance of our controller object to initialize the simulation
myControl()

Tools and Languages in 2008
Program Language(s) Description
Swarm Objective-C, Java Agent modeling library, dated, last release
version 2.2 February 2005
RepastJ Java Based on Swarm, written specifically in Java
RepastPy Python Friendly GUI, uses Python for scripting,
limited
Repast.NET C#, VB.NET Leverages .NET framework, doesn’t work with
Visual Studio 2008
Repast Simphony Java Full-featured, uses Eclipse IDE, can be difficult
to setup
MetaABM Java Full-featured, uses Eclipse IDE plus own GUI,
designed to use standard model file that can
work with other tools (Repast, Weka, VisAD,
MatLAB), can be difficult to setup
Breve Steve, Python, Push Fast, easy to use 3d simulation environment
targeted towards physics and artificial life

RepastPy -- Model
 Simple GUI which generates Java classes

RepastPy – Agent
Simple Python scripting for behaviors

Repast Simphony
 Uses Java + Groovy to compile an application

Boids
 A kind of 3D Life simulation producing chaotic
behavior. The rules are:
1. Boids try to fly towards the center of mass of
neighboring boids (usually, the perceived CoM with
respect to that particular boid)
2. Boids try to keep a small distance away from other
objects (including other boids)
3. Boids try to match velocity with near boids (perceived
velocity of neighbors)

breve – basic Controller/Agent
structure (Python)
import breve
class HelloWorld( breve.Control ):
breve.Control.__init__( self )
def iterate( self ):
print '''Hello, world!'''
breve.Control.iterate( self )
breve.HelloWorld = HelloWorld
# Create an instance of our controller object to initialize the simulation
HelloWorld()

breve – basic Controller/Agent
structure (steve)
@include "Control.tz"
Controller HelloWorld.
Control : HelloWorld {
+ to iterate:
print "Hello, world!".
super iterate.
}

breve – Gravity & 3D collisions

breve – Gray Scott model of
reaction diffusion

breve – boids to evolving swarms

Evolving swarms
In addition to the behaviors of boids, swarm agents:
 Seek out food, which randomly teleports around
 Feed their friends with excess food
 Reproduce when energy (food) hits certain threshold
 Die when they run out of energy, or reach maximum
age
 Land on the ground, rest, fly around again
 Mutate in such a way as to improve/reduce
reproduction
So how to you mutate code that must be pre-defined?

Push
Genetic programming – random crossover and mutation
of computer programs
 Doesn’t work for most computer languages, since they
typically have rigid syntax:
 This makes sense:
L = [math.exp(val) for val in eigenvalues]
 This does not:
eigenvalues ] in math.exp(val) = L ] for

Push
 Programs made up of: instructions, literals, and
sublists
 Push program is an expression, entirely placed on the
stack and evaluated recursively according to these
rules:
1. If P is an instruction then execute it
2. Else if P is a literal then push it on to the stack
3. Else (P must be a list) sequentially execute each of the
Push programs in P

Sample Push program and
execution
( 2 3 INTEGER. * 4.1 5.2 FLOAT.+ TRUE FALSE BOOLEAN.OR )
 Pushing onto the stack from left to right, we then pop the stack right to left
:
 First run is: BOOLEAN.OR FALSE TRUE = (TRUE) (BOOLEAN stack)
 Next we have: FLOAT.+ 5.2 4.1 = (9.3) (FLOAT stack)
 Finally we have INTEGER.* 2 3 = (6) (INTEGER stack)
Note that each stack has its own type, the stack-based typing system puts
each instruction on its own type of stack, so that any combination remains
semantically valid. We could re-order all of these stacks without issue.
The main trick is to devise programs that actually produce changeable
behaviors in the agents, so they can be selected for or against

References
 “Agent-based model,” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_based_modeling.
 Christian Castle and Andrew Crooks, Principles and Concepts of Agent-Based Modelling
for Developing Geospatial Simulations, UCL Working Papers Series (UCL Centre for
Advanced Spatial Analysis, September 2006),
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/working_papers/paper110.pdf.
 “Main Page - SwarmWiki,” http://www.swarm.org/index.php?title=Main_Page.
 Repast Agent Simulation Toolkit, http://repast.sourceforge.net/.
 Miles Parker, metaABM, http://metaabm.org/docs/index.html.
 Jon Klein, breve: a 3d Simulation Environment for Multi-Agent Simulations and Artificial
Life (Hampshire College), http://www.spiderland.org/.
 Craig Reynolds, “Boids (Flocks, Herds, and Schools: a Distributed Behavioral Model),”
Boids, Backround and Update, http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/.
 Abelson et al., “Gray Scott Home Page,” Gray Scott Model of Reaction Diffusion,
http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/projects/amorphous/GrayScott/.
 Jon Klein, “"Push": a Language for Evolutionary Computation Integrated With breve |
breve,” http://www.spiderland.org/node/2759.
 Lee Spector, Push, PushGP, and Pushpop (School of Cognitive Science: Hampshire
College), http://hampshire.edu/lspector/push.html.

Agent based modeling-presentation

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Agent based modeling-presentation