Genetic swarm grammar programming: Ecological breeding like a gardener

We recently introduced swarm grammars as an extension of Lindenmayer systems to model dynamic growth processes in 3D space through a large number of interacting (swarm) agents. Grammatical rewrite rules define different types of agents and their evolution over time. Sets of parameters determine specific interaction behaviors among the generated swarms. As we will show, swarm grammars lend themselves to creating an ecology of interacting entities and dynamic structures that are built by a multitude of agents. In addition to a rather traditional approach of evolving swarm grammars through interactive genetic programming, we explore new ways of designing ecologies of swarm agents by immersing the breeder into the growth and evolution processes. The system designer takes on the role of a ´tinkerer´ or ´gardener´, who is equipped with tools to influence and shape the on-going growth, evolutionary, and other dynamic processes within the swarm grammar ecology. Spatial genetic operators can be directed to specific locations within the evolving swarms. This enables the breeder to overview large numbers of phenotypic developmental processes and implicitly direct their evolution.