Self-Organizing Networked Systems: Langton's Ant - from simple rules to complex behavior

Self-Organizing Networked Systems: Langton's Ant - from simple rules to complex behavior

The following system is created using a very simple set of rules:

1. Let's assume an infinite 2D grid world. Each grid cell can be either black or white.
   
2. For simplicity, all grid cells are white at the beginning.
   
3. There is an ant, which can move up to four directions (N,E,S,W).
   
4. Whenever the ant enters a white field, it toggles the grid color and performs a clockwise (right) turn.
   
5. Whenever the ant enters a black field, it toggles the grid color and performs a counter-clockwise (left) turn.
   

You got the rules? Let's play! Get yourself some squared paper, a pencil and a rubber and start drawing. Or, if you are lazy, just use the Java applet below. Unfortunately I failed in simulating the infinite grid, so the simulation reverses whenever the ant leaves the system boundary, but this does not make a difference for the first 10000 iterations. You may use the mousewheel to scroll and modify the simulation speed in order to investigate what the ant is up to.

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