Moshe Sipper, Topics in Bio-Inspired Computing, Semester A, 2010/11

Topics in Bio-Inspired Computing נושאים בחישוב מונחה טבע

202-1-4791, Semester A, 2010-2011 (מיני פרויקט)

IMPORTANT:

1. Projects must be submitted by end of semester: January 7, 2011

2. No Extensions! (other than extended miluim)

3. You must decide upon a topic until November 7, otherwise 10 points will be taken off

Project Assignment

Omri Hadur, Artyom Shein (supervised by Amit): Network puzzle
Roie Golan, Shuki Zorano (supervised by Amit): Nonogram
Reut Schwartz, Nir Pluderman: bloxorz
Tal Zilcer, Barry Rubinstein: Rubik's cube
Mattan Margalith, Gilad Ivry, Niv Saar: Crossword Puzzle Construction
Yehonatan Cohen, Itay Ostrov, Yarden Eitan: Nurikabe
Danni Friedland, Tamir Gilad, Maor Shmueli: Generalized Peg Solitaire
Roman Kniazev, Ori Panush: enDice
Aya Elhanan, Avinoam Levi: Lights Out

Popular Press

Some reports in the popular press

Course Description

Students will work on software projects in the area of evolutionary computation.

Mandatory Reading

(Optional: הרצאת מבוא של גיא כתבי , בוגר הקורס "אלגוריתמים אבולוציוניים וחיים מלאכותיים", 2006 )

Bibliography

Primary:

A.E. Eiben and J.E. Smith, Introduction to Evolutionary Computing, Springer, 1st edition, 2003, Corr. 2nd printing, 2007.
R. Poli, B. Langdon, & N. McPhee, A Field Guide to Genetic Programming, 2008. (freely downloadable)
J. Koza, Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by Means of Natural Selection, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992.
M. Sipper, Machine Nature: The Coming Age of Bio-Inspired Computing, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002.

Also:

S. Luke, Essentials of Metaheuristics, 2010. (freely downloadable)
Z. Michalewicz & D.B. Fogel, How to Solve It: Modern Heuristics, 2nd ed. Revised and Extended, 2004.
Z. Michalewicz. Genetic Algorithms + Data Structures = Evolution Programs. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 3rd edition, 1996.
D. Floreano & C. Mattiussi, Bio-Inspired Artificial Intelligence: Theories, Methods, and Technologies, MIT Press, 2008.
A. Tettamanzi & M. Tomassini, Soft Computing: Integrating Evolutionary, Neural, and Fuzzy Systems, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 2001.

Administrative Details

Web: http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/~sipper/courses/bic111/
Credits: 2
The grade is based on a combination of the project's quality and the final report's quality
Students must work in pairs, groups of 3 are also allowed

Final Report (please read this carefully!)

The final report must include the following seven sections:

A short introduction of the domain being investigated.
A description of the problem or phenomenon studied.
An explanation of the methods and algorithms employed.
An overview of the software (NOT a listing of the code).
An account of the results obtained.
Some interesting conclusions.
Bibliographic references.

Language: Hebrew or English.
Length: 10-20 pages.
Don't include the code.
Don't send the report by e-mail: hand in a hard copy.

Projects

(Note: The project must be approved by Prof. Sipper)

Projects offered by Amit Benbassat.
Select a nontrivial game or puzzle and design and implement an evolutionary algorithm to evolve a strategy/solution for the chosen game/puzzle. There are various puzzle sites on the net you can search, such as addictinggames, freeonlinegames. You might also find an interesting game at Toys R Us or deep in your old closet...
Select an interesting, hard problem and design and implement an evolutionary algorithm to solve it (or instances of it).