Using Artificial Organisms To Study The Evolution of Backbones in Fish

Abstract

This paper describes the use of both robotic and digital organisms to help in the study and understanding of the evolution of biological structures. Our premise in this paper is that simulations using robotic and digital organisms are an effective methodology for studying how some features evolved in swimming fish. Experiments with the artificial organisms allow us to evaluate the hypothesis that backbones evolved in fish in part because they result in higher velocity, acceleration and maneuverability. The use of both robotic and digital organisms provides the ability to (1) use computers to efficiently explore a very large search space of possibilities, (2) validate (using the robotic organisms) that the digital models accurately reflect the physical constraints of the environment