{"id":570,"date":"2024-11-24T14:01:39","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T14:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/?p=570"},"modified":"2024-11-24T14:01:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T14:01:39","slug":"blog-4-hive-mind-progress-update-power-naps-ant-tactics-and-a-sneak-peek-%f0%9f%90%9c%f0%9f%8e%a5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/?p=570","title":{"rendered":"Blog #4 Hive Mind Progress Update: Power Naps, Ant Tactics, and a Sneak Peek! \ud83d\udc1c\ud83c\udfa5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Hi everyone! It&#8217;s time for another bi-weekly update on the Hive Mind project. This time, we&#8217;ve got a lot of exciting progress to share\u2014and even a video to show how the ants are shaping up in their tiny digital world. Let\u2019s dive in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building the Brain: New Components for FireAnts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past two weeks, we\u2019ve been hard at work adding some brains (and brawn) to our ants. Each FireAnt now boasts four shiny new actor components:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Agent Component: This will handle communication between the ants and the machine learning system. It&#8217;s like the ant\u2019s connection to the Hive Mind itself\u2014but we\u2019re saving this one for last to make sure it\u2019s perfect.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Health Component: Tracks vital stats like energy and (soon) hunger.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Combat Component: Because defending the colony isn\u2019t all about food and naps!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Search Component: The ant\u2019s way of exploring the world and sniffing out resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">With these in place, our ants are ready to start making smarter decisions. But what\u2019s an intelligent ant without a game plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:33px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AI That Works (and Naps!)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ve added an AI controller, complete with a behavior tree and its own blackboard, to keep our ants on task. Right now, they\u2019re pretty focused on energy management, thanks to a new energy system in the Health Component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s how it works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ants lose energy while exploring the world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When energy runs low, they take power naps at the nearest resting spot.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Resting spots could be under a leaf, a stone, or inside the nest.<br><code>Pro tip: The nest is the safest and fastest for recovery, but it\u2019s not always nearby!<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">After recharging, the ants get back to exploring.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Safety will soon become a factor as predators join the ecosystem. For now, the ants can rest without worries, but soon they\u2019ll have to weigh their options more carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:44px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Watch Them Go!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In the video, you\u2019ll see four ants with randomized health scurrying around the world, navigating obstacles, and taking breaks at the resting spot when their energy runs low. It\u2019s a small start, but it\u2019s exciting to see them act independently\u2014and intelligently!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:44px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What\u2019s Next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Our short-term roadmap is shaping up nicely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>More Resting Spots:<\/strong> We\u2019ll add diverse locations with varying recovery rates, so ants can make smarter choices about where to recharge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Ant Cameras:<\/strong> Managing the free-moving camera has been tricky because the ants are so small. To fix this, we\u2019re adding a camera to each ant and a toggle feature to switch between their views and the overall scene.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Hunger and Food: <\/strong>The next big feature! Ants will need to find food to stay alive, and we\u2019ll introduce food-searching patterns and mechanics to make this a true survival challenge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:42px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Stay Tuned!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This journey is just beginning, and we\u2019re thrilled to share it with you. Check out the video for a sneak peek, and as always, let us know what you think!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:36px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"HiveMind update 4 Energy System\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/du9YOlK3G-s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi everyone! It&#8217;s time for another bi-weekly update on the Hive Mind project. This time, we&#8217;ve got a lot of exciting progress to share\u2014and even a video to show how the ants are shaping up in their tiny digital world. Let\u2019s dive in! Building the Brain: New Components for FireAnts Over the past two weeks, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-progress-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575,"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hivemind.science\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}