Emergence of Collective Escaping Strategies of Various Sized Teams of Empathic Caribou Agents in the Wolf-caribou Predator-prey Problem

抄録

We investigate an approach to apply Genetic Programming for the evolution of optimal escaping strategies of a team of caribou agents in the wolf-caribou predator prey problem (WCPPP) where the WCPPP is comprised of a team of caribou agents attempting to escape from a single yet superior (in terms of sensory abilities, raw speed, and maximum energy) wolf agent in a simulated two-dimensional infinite toroidal world. We empirically verify our hypothesis that the incorporation of empathy in caribou agents significantly improves both the evolution efficiency of the escaping behavior and the effectiveness of such a behavior. This finding may be viewed as a verification of the survival value of empathy and the resulting compassionate behavior of the escaping caribou agents. Moreover, considering the fact that a single caribou cannot escape from the superior wolf, the ability of a team of empathic caribou agents to escape may also be viewed as an illustration of the emergent nature of a successful escaping behavior - in that the team-level properties are more than the mere sum of the properties of the individual entities. Within this context, we also present empirical results that verify the complex (nonlinear) nature of the relationship between the size of team of caribou agents and the efficiency of their escaping behavior.