Nature, in Code

JavaScript Ants

I like ants. I like them not so much as individuals animals, but as an algorithm encoded in DNA.

Ants are great at many things, but what I've always admired most about them is their uncanny ability to coordinate as a group to deal with a situation at a scale that no single ant can possibly "understand". By following a few simple rules, each ant acts in a way that gives rise to emergent behavior at the level of the ant colony.

One of the best known situations in this context is about ants finding food and bringing it back to the nest. If you have ever dropped some food out near an ant nest, you know very well what happens in the course of a few minutes. Once a few ants have located the food source, it won't take very long until the colony has established an efficient ad hoc transportation system, transporting the food back to the nest in the fastest way possible.

How exactly this works is the subject of fascinating research. In this simulation, I simply assume that once an ant finds food, she leaves a chemical trail - in blue below - behind while walking back to the nest (this assumes she knows where the nest is). The chemical substance evaporates over time, and other ants simply follow the gradient of the substance until they find food. It's fun watching them randomly exploring and then suddenly kicking into this highly efficient mode of bringing food back to the nest.

RELOAD SIMULATION

Code

var _data; // data from previous update

function draw_grid(data) {
	var width = 600;
	var height = 600;
	var grid_length = data.length;
	var width_cell = width/grid_length;
	var height_cell = height/grid_length;

	var canvas = document.getElementById("grid")
	if (canvas == null) {
		canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
		canvas.id = "grid";
		canvas.width = width;
		canvas.height = height;
		document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].appendChild(canvas);
	}

	var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
	
	function draw_cells(){
		
		for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i++) {
			for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii++) {
				if (_data && _data[i][ii] === color_for_cell(data[i][ii])) {
					continue;
				} 
				context.clearRect(i*width_cell, ii*height_cell, width_cell, height_cell);
				context.fillStyle = color_for_cell(data[i][ii]);
				context.fillRect(i*width_cell, ii*height_cell, width_cell, height_cell);
			}
		}
		
	}
	draw_cells();
	if (!_data) {
		_data = [];
	}
	for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i++) {
		_data[i] = [];
		for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii++){
			_data[i][ii] = color_for_cell(data[i][ii]);
		}
	}
}

function update_grid(data) {
	draw_grid(data);
}




var color_for_cell = function (cell) {
	if (cell.has_ant()) {
		return cell.ant.has_food ? "rgb(159,248,101)" : "rgb(0,0,0)";
	}
	else if (cell.food > 0) {
		return "rgba(86,169,46,"+Math.pow(cell.food/10,0.5)+")";
	}
	else {
		if (cell.signal > 0) {
			var signal = cell.signal > 1 ? 1 : cell.signal;
			return "rgba(17,103,189,"+cell.signal+")";
		}
		else return "rgb(250,250,250)";
	}
}

var opacity_for_signal = function (cell) {
	return cell.has_ant() ? "1.0": cell.signal;
}


	
var grid_length = 150;
var grid = [];
var temp_grid = [];
var population = [];
var max_ants_on_grid = 100;
var ms_between_updates = 33;
var ants_out_of_nest = 0;

Math.to_radians = function(degrees) {
  return degrees * Math.PI / 180;
};

Math.to_degrees = function(radians) {
  return radians * 180 / Math.PI;
};

function Cell(i,ii) {
	this.i = i;
	this.ii = ii;
	this.ant = null;
	this.food = 0;
	this.signal = 0;
	this.has_ant = function() {
		return this.ant ? true : false;
	};
}

function Ant() {
	this.has_food = false;
	this.last_signal = 0;
	this.orientation = Math.random() * 90;
}



function init_grids() {
	for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i = i + 1) {
		grid[i] = [];
		temp_grid[i] = [];
		for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii = ii + 1) {
			grid[i][ii] = new Cell(i,ii);
			temp_grid[i][ii] = new Cell(i,ii);
		}
	}
}

function initialize_simulation() {
	init_grids();
	place_food();
	draw_grid(grid.map(function(row) {return row.map(function(cell) {return cell;});}));
}

initialize_simulation();
var interval_id = setInterval(simulate_and_visualize, ms_between_updates);


function simulate_and_visualize() {
	run_time_step();
	update_grid(grid.map(function(row) {return row.map(function(cell) {return cell;});}));
}

function place_food() {
	var center_i = Math.round(grid_length * 0.8);
	var center_ii = center_i;
	var max_distance = grid_length/10;
	for (var i = center_i-max_distance; i <= center_i+max_distance; i++) {
		for (var ii = center_ii-max_distance; ii < center_ii+max_distance; ii++) {
			bounded_i = get_bounded_index(i);
			bounded_ii = get_bounded_index(ii);
			var distance = calc_distance(center_i,center_ii,bounded_i,bounded_ii)
			var food_level = Math.round(10 - Math.pow(distance,1.2));
			grid[i][ii].food = food_level;
		}
	}
}

function run_time_step() {
	move_ants();
	check_for_food();
	sense_signal();	
}

function sense_signal() {
	for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i = i + 1) {
		for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii = ii + 1) {
			if (grid[i][ii].has_ant()) {
				grid[i][ii].ant.last_signal = grid[i][ii].signal;
			}
		}
	}
}

function move_ants() {
	for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i = i + 1) {
		for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii = ii + 1) {
			if (grid[i][ii].has_ant()) {
				move_ant(i,ii);
			}
		}
	}
	// signal
	for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i = i + 1) {
		for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii = ii + 1) {
			// adjust reference
			grid[i][ii].ant = temp_grid[i][ii].ant; 
			if (grid[i][ii].has_ant() && grid[i][ii].ant.has_food) {
				bounded_i = get_bounded_index(i);
				bounded_ii = get_bounded_index(ii);
				var signal_strength = 1 - Math.pow(0.5,1/calc_distance(i,ii,bounded_i,bounded_ii));
				grid[bounded_i][bounded_ii].signal += signal_strength;
				// is the ant near the nest with food? drop food
				if (i < 5 && ii < 5) {
					grid[i][ii].ant.has_food = false;
				}
			}
			else {
				grid[i][ii].signal *= 0.95;	
			}
			if (grid[i][ii].signal < 0.05) {
				grid[i][ii].signal = 0;	
			}
		}
	}
	move_ant_out_of_nest();	
}



function move_ant_out_of_nest() {
	var i = 0;
	var ii = 0;
	var new_coords = get_random_coordinates(i,ii);
	var j = new_coords[0];
	var jj = new_coords[1];
	if (!grid[j][jj].has_ant() && ants_out_of_nest < max_ants_on_grid) {
		grid[j][jj].ant = new Ant();
		temp_grid[j][jj].ant = grid[j][jj].ant;
		ants_out_of_nest++;
	}
}

function get_coords_from_orientation(i,ii) {
	var coords = [];
	var orientation_radians = Math.to_radians(grid[i][ii].ant.orientation)
	coords.push(get_bounded_index(Math.round(i + Math.cos(orientation_radians))));
	coords.push(get_bounded_index(Math.round(ii + Math.sin(orientation_radians))));
	return coords;
}

function move_ant(i,ii) {
	var new_coords, j, jj;
	if (grid[i][ii].ant.has_food) {
		var current_distance = calc_distance_to_nest(i,ii);
		do {
			grid[i][ii].ant.orientation = Math.random() * 360;
			new_coords = get_coords_from_orientation(i,ii);
			j = new_coords[0];
			jj = new_coords[1];
		} while (calc_distance_to_nest(j,jj) >= current_distance);
	}
	else {
		// random movement in case there is no signal
		new_coords = get_coords_from_orientation(i,ii);
		j = new_coords[0];
		jj = new_coords[1];
		grid[i][ii].ant.orientation += Math.random() * 45 - 22.5;
		// let's check for some signal
		var last = grid[i][ii].ant.last_signal;
		var current;
		var min = 0;
		var max = 0;
		for (var n_i = i-1; n_i <= i+1; n_i++) {
			for (var n_ii = ii-1; n_ii <= ii+1; n_ii++) {
				bounded_n_i = get_bounded_index(n_i);
				bounded_n_ii = get_bounded_index(n_ii);
				current = grid[bounded_n_i][bounded_n_ii].signal;
				if (current.signal == 0) {
					continue;
				}
				var diff = last-current;
				if (last == 0) {
					if (diff < min) {
						j = bounded_n_i;	
						jj = bounded_n_ii;	
					}	
				}
				else {
					if (diff > max) {
						j = bounded_n_i;	
						jj = bounded_n_ii;	
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}
	// some randomness
	if (Math.random() < 0.05) {
		new_coords = get_random_coordinates(i,ii);
		j = new_coords[0];
		jj = new_coords[1];
	}
	// now that we have new coords:
	if (!temp_grid[j][jj].has_ant()) {
		// adjust reference
		temp_grid[j][jj].ant = temp_grid[i][ii].ant;
		temp_grid[i][ii].ant = null;
	}
}

function calc_distance(i,ii,j,jj) {
	return Math.pow(Math.pow(Math.abs(i-j),2) + Math.pow(Math.abs(ii-jj),2) , 0.5);
}

function calc_distance_to_nest(i,ii) {
	return calc_distance(i,ii,0,0);
}

function get_random_coordinates(i,ii) {
	var j   = get_random_int(i-1, i+1);
	var jj  = get_random_int(ii-1, ii+1);
	j  = get_bounded_index(j);
	jj = get_bounded_index(jj);
	return [j, jj];
}

function check_for_food(i,ii) {
	for (var i = 0; i < grid_length; i = i + 1) {
		for (var ii = 0; ii < grid_length; ii = ii + 1) {
			if (grid[i][ii].has_ant() && !grid[i][ii].ant.has_food) {
				if (grid[i][ii].food > 0) {
					grid[i][ii].ant.has_food = true;
					grid[i][ii].food--;	
				}
			}
		}
	}
}



function get_random_int(min, max) {
	return Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)) + min;
}

function get_bounded_index(index) {
	var bounded_index = index;
	if (index < 0) {
		bounded_index = 0;
	}
	if (index >= grid_length) {
		bounded_index = grid_length-1;
	}
	return bounded_index;
}