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Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 202, Issue 23 3477-3484, Copyright © 1999 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Visual simulations, artificial animals and virtual ecosystems

JE Hokkanen
Institute of Biomedicine, PO Box 8, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. jyrki.hokkanen@helsinki.fi

This review is about a field that does not traditionally belong to biological sciences. A branch of computer animation has its mission to create active self-powered objects living artificial lives in the theoretical biology zone. Selected work, of particular interest to biologists, is presented here. These works include animated simulations of legged locomotion, flexible-bodied animals swimming and crawling, artificial fish in virtual ecosystems, automated learning of swimming and the evolution of virtual creatures with respect to morphology, locomotion and behaviour. The corresponding animations are available for downloading via the Internet. I hope that watching these intriguing pieces of visual simulation will stimulate digitally oriented biologists to seize the interactive methods made possible by ever-increasing computing power.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1999