Description: Lecture, four hours; outside study, eight hours. Requisite: course 130 or 131 or 161. Animats are mobile/sensing animal-like software agents embedded in simulated dynamic environments. Emphasis on modeling: goal-oriented behavior via neurocontrollers, adaptation via reinforcement learning, evolutionary programming. Animat-based tasks include foraging, mate finding, predation, navigation, predator avoidance, cooperative nest construction, communication, and parenting. Letter grading.

Units: 4.0