Competing Evolved and Engineered Digital Organisms
Engineers use evolutionary computation to optimize the wing design of supersonic aircraft.Copyright NASA/Michelle M. Murphy http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/supersonic.html
Students engineer and evolve digital organisms with the challenge to produce organisms with the highest fitness values in a particular environment. They do this through use of the free Avida-ED digital evolution software application. The resulting organisms compete against each other in the same environment and students learn the benefits of applying the principles of natural selection to solve engineering design problems.
Engineers apply their understanding of scientific and math principles to design and create devices, structures, materials and processes. Typically, engineers identify a problem, brainstorm possible solutions, and then create and test prototypes to find the best solution. Engineers often use computer modeling for this type of optimization. Evolutionary computation applies the principles of evolution by natural selection to identify the best potential solutions and often suggests possible solutions that engineers would not have ever considered.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain how the principles of natural selection can be applied to solve engineering design problems.
- Compare and contrast the process of natural selection and the engineering design process.