RE: Mosquito or no-see-em?

["Gary McCallister" <mccallis@xxxx>]

This is interesting and obviously captures a better movement and helps 
eliminate the bug of slipping through the barrier. As a poor biologist, 
however, I am a little concerned that some of the refinements are not 
exactlymosquito like. I am well aware that most of the people on the list are 
more interested in the computers behavior, but I feel I must speak on behalf 
of the organism.=20=20
For example, there is some evidence that mosquitoes DO move very randomly, at 
least until they are quite close to a host. Secondly, as we add refinements 
that make the program run better, I wonder if we are exceeding the decision 
making capacity of the organism. These are animals of very little brain 
(probably even less than Pooh Bear). Third, there are a number of varibales 
that we are not considering, like multiple sources, alternativeenergy sources, 
or weather conditions. Lasty, when confronted with a barrier such as window 
screen, mosquitoes DO occassionally find a way through. (It is almost like 
magic).

>>> wpetti@xxxx 09/09/01 10:31PM >>>
It is very interesting what we can figure out when we put several heads
together! I had noted that the mosquito sometimes penetrated the thicker
barrier, but I hadn't taken the time to analyze how this was happening.
Ben, I think you have identified the "bug" correctly. I am not entirely
sure that I understand your solution, and I wonder if you could show us your
amended procedures and/or attach your version of the project. In the
meantime, I tried to combine your input with the existing procedures rather
than changing the proportion to 70% movements towards the target, and I
split the "move" procedure up into move1 and move2 and included both names
in the "find" procedure. I was hoping that by doing this, the program would
check to see if the mosquito was touching anything after each move instead
of after each pair of moves. But the mosquito still did slip through the
barrier on one of my tests. And I think you are wise to change the
proportion of movements toward the target to 70%, because my mosquito seems
to meander too much! But I honestly don't know HOW you can change the
proportion to 70%, and that is why I'm eager for you to share your
procedure(s).

Here are my slightly-revised procedures, by the way:

to move1
mosquito, sethowfar round distance "t2
towards "t2
fd random 40
setmoves moves + 1
wait 3
end

to move2
mosquito, sethowfar round distance "t2
lt random 360
fd random 40
setmoves moves + 1
wait 3
end

to find
mosquito,
when [(distance "t2) < 15] [sethowfar round distance "t2 stopall]
when [touching? "t1 "mosquito] [bk 30 rt 45]
go
forever [move1 move2]
end


Wendy




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