Langton’s Ant Nest is a program that simulates Langton’s Ant system in 3D. Based on the 1986 development by Chris Langton, the initial rules of the ant are very simple. An Ant is spawned on an infinite grid of cells. The ant can travel in any of the four cardinal directions at each step it takes. The “ant” moves according to the rules below:
- At a white square, turn 90° right, flip the color of the square, move forward one unit
- At a black square, turn 90° left, flip the color of the square, move forward one unit
It is a form of cellular automaton. Through these simple rule we can start to simulate Complex Emergent behaviours.
The aim of the simulation in 3d is to see if there are correlation between the ants movement and the way that ants build their nests.
The program also allows different rule sets or rule inputs, which changes the overall result.
Langton’s Ant Nest is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master of Advanced Architecture in 2016/17 by:
Student: Jonathan Irawan
Faculty: Angelos Chronis