Artificial Life

--Potential Flashing Images Warning--

Various ways of running this code could cause flashing images, please be careful.

This repository has the code for the Artificial Life project as described on the 314reactor.com blog. The goal of the project is to use a Raspberry Pi and a Unicorn Pi Hat to simulate a set of artificial lifeforms. Features of the program include:

• Create a number of artificial lifeforms that can move around a board and have colour/movement properties assigned to
• them via 3 random numbers; the ‘DNA’ of the life-form – and display them onto an easy-to-observe output.
• Have those artificial lifeforms be able to interact with each other to ‘breed’ and pass along their traits to offspring,
• as well as ‘kill’ each other to keep the population in check.
• Have random chance for ‘genetic chaos’ whereby instead of passing along a life-form’s properties to its offspring a
• random number is inserted into the offspring’s ‘DNA’.
• BONUS – plug the code into the Minecraft API and see what random patterns of blocks can be spawned from the
• artificial life-form’s movements and properties.

Installation

A more detailed set of instructions is available on the blog post for this project. Basic instructions are:

1. Install Raspbian on a Raspberry Pi.
2. Clone the repository

git clone --recursive https://github.com/LordofBone/Artificial_Life

3. Install the dependencies

Install and set up the Unicorn HAT:
[Unicorn HAT GitHub code](https://github.com/pimoroni/unicorn-hat)

You can also use this with the Unicorn HAT Mini:
[Unicorn HAT Mini GitHub code](https://learn.pimoroni.com/article/getting-started-with-unicorn-hat-mini)

Or even the Unicorn HAT HD:
[Unicorn HAT HD GitHub code](https://github.com/pimoroni/unicorn-hat-hd)

sudo pip install -r requirements.txt

### Running The Program

Run the program from the command line - for some reason I have found that it requires sudo to work with the HAT.
It will default to use the original Unicorn HAT, but if you add in the parameter '-uh' you can then specify between
SD, HD or MINI.

This will also run on a system without a physical HAT installed thanks to the 
[Unicorn HAT simulator](https://github.com/jayniz/unicorn-hat-sim) - although it does have some bugs at the moment.

sudo env PATH="$PATH" python artificial_life.py

Arguments that can be passed: 

-m MAX_NUM, --max-num MAX_NUM Maximum number possible for any entity traits -ilc LIFE_FORM_TOTAL, --initial-lifeforms-count LIFE_FORM_TOTAL Number of lifeforms to start with -s LOOP_SPEED, --refresh-rate LOOP_SPEED The refresh rate for the buffer processing, also sets a maximum speed for the main loop processing, if sync is enabled (this is to prevent the display falling behind the logic loop) -p POP_LIMIT, --population-limit POP_LIMIT Limit of the population at any one time -me MAX_ENEMY_FACTOR, --max-enemy-factor MAX_ENEMY_FACTOR Factor that calculates into the maximum breed threshold of an entity -dc DNA_CHAOS_CHANCE, --dna-chaos DNA_CHAOS_CHANCE Percentage chance of random DNA upon breeding of entities -shs CUSTOM_SIZE_SIMULATOR [CUSTOM_SIZE_SIMULATOR ...], --simulator-hat-size CUSTOM_SIZE_SIMULATOR [CUSTOM_SIZE_SIMULATOR ...] Size of the simulator HAT in pixels; to use pass in '-shs 16 16' for 16x16 pixels (x and y) -c, --combine-mode Enables life forms to combine into bigger ones -tr, --trails Stops the HAT from being cleared, resulting in trails of entities -g, --gravity Gravity enabled, still entities will fall to the floor -rc, --radiation-change Whether to adjust radiation levels across the simulation or not -w WALL_NUMBER, --walls WALL_NUMBER Number of walls to randomly spawn that will block entities -rs RESOURCES_NUMBER, --resources RESOURCES_NUMBER Number of resources to begin with that entities can mine -r RADIATION, --radiation RADIATION Radiation enabled, will increase random mutation chance and damage entities -mr MAX_RADIATION, --max-radiation MAX_RADIATION Maximum radiation level possible -rm RADIATION_DMG_MULTI, --radiation-multi RADIATION_DMG_MULTI Maximum radiation level possible -rbc RADIATION_BASE_CHANGE_CHANCE, --radiation-base-change RADIATION_BASE_CHANGE_CHANCE The percentage chance that the base radiation level will change randomly. -be, --building-entities Whether lifeforms can build static blocks on the board -wc WALL_CHANCE_MULTIPLIER, --wall-chance WALL_CHANCE_MULTIPLIER Whether lifeforms can build static blocks on the board -rt, --retry Whether the loop will automatically restart upon the expiry of all entities -sim, --unicorn-hat-sim Whether to use the Unicorn HAT simulator or not -hm {SD,HD,MINI,PANEL,CUSTOM}, --hat-model {SD,HD,MINI,PANEL,CUSTOM} What type of HAT the program is using. CUSTOM only works with Unicorn HAT Simulator -l {CRITICAL,ERROR,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG,NOTSET}, --log-level {CRITICAL,ERROR,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG,NOTSET} Logging level -sl, --sync-logic Whether to sync the logic loop to the refresh rate of the screen -ff, --fixed-function Whether to bypass pixel composer and use fixed function for drawing (faster, less pretty)