FIT3094 Lecture Note List

FIT3094 : AI, ALife and Virtual Environments

Provisional Schedule
Semester 1, Caulfield Campus, 2015

Dates on which lectures are covered may vary depending on speed of progress through the material.

Weeks	Lectures	Exercises, assignments, support materials
1	Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Artificial Life (ALife) Preliminary reading: No, you're not entitled to your opinion., Dorin, A., Biological Bits, 2014 (chapter 1).	Self-directed study: MacOSX access notes, Introduction to Unix tutorial Support videos*: Algorithms I, Algorithms II
2	A history of applications for AI, ALife and Virtual Environments Preliminary reading: Charles Babbage, "Games of skill can be played by an automaton", in Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, p465-471 (sample URL1, URL2) Or check your library for, "Charles Babbage and his calculating engines : selected writings", Dover, 1961, p152-157. Q: What algorithm did Babbage suggest?	Lab sheet (Noughts and crosses) Support videos: Binary Search, What is a tree?
3	The interactive game loop, Finite State Automata and agent decision making	Lab sheet (Pacman FSMs) Support videos: Recursion I, Recursion II
4	Basic search algorithms Preliminary reading: Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories, Chapter 19(13), Labyrinths. Q: What are the difficulties of ancient labyrinths?	Lab sheet (Pirate search) Support videos: Trees graphs and mazes
5	Vectors and Steering behaviour & Cooperative strategies for agent behaviour Preliminary reading: Dorin, A., Biological Bits, 2014 (chapter 6).	Assignment 1 time (download Pirates v2.2) Support materials: Craig Reynolds' boids
Mid-semester break (week starting 6 April 2015)
6	Cooperative strategies for agent behaviour (cont.) & The built environment. Video watching: What is architecture? Choose 3 videos to watch from those offered here (in a language you can understand). Make notes summarising the answers each architect gives to each question.	Assignment 1 lab demo (see: due dates)
7	Assignment 1 class game	Lab sheet (Graphical wanderers) Downloads: GL_routines.cpp, GL_routines.h, main.cpp
8	Growing realistic plants and forests Preliminary reading: Dorin, A., Biological Bits, 2014 (chapter 4).	Lab sheet (Vectors and boids) Support materials: Dorin, A., Biological Bits, 2014 (chapters 4.4, 5.1, 6.1)
9	Artificial Evolution Preliminary reading: Dorin, A., Biological Bits, 2014 (chapter 7.2, Evolution).	Lab sheet (L-System plants) Support videos Karl Sims' virtual creatures, Greg Turk's Sticky Feet
10	Virtual ecosystems Preliminary reading: Dorin, A., Biological Bits, 2014 (chapter 7).	Lab sheet (Cellular automata) Support videos Meniscus, Bee waggle dance
11	Advanced Search Algorithms: A* Search	Assignment 2 time (Aesthetic Evolution - submission details and upload via Moodle) Support materials Search algorithm visualisation, Path-finding bug video, Detail on path-finding
12	Neural Networks Discuss the Sample Exam	Assignment 2 and lab demo (see: due dates)

* Many more lecture support videos are online. Some videos depend on others, so although it is possible to jump between them, it is simpler to view them in the recommended order. The "sample problems" on which the video lectures are based are the Towers of Hanoi, the Fake Coin, the Travelling Salesman, Chocolate Cutting, Boat problem and 8-Queens (online).