An animat's cell doctrine

We present a developmental model to simulate swimming digital organisms following an animat’s cell doctrine. Morphology and control are encoded in one genome concurrently using artificial cells as the basic building blocks for both. Each individual starts with one cell in the middle of a computational environment, and its development is controlled by a gene regulatory network. The cells can differentiate into central pattern generators that control the movements of the resulting individual. After the developmental process, the individual is placed into a physics simulation environment and the distance it swims in a defined time is evaluated. Contrary to most existing models, one genome for both, morphology and control is used and the CPGs representing the dynamic control contribute to the morphology of the organism.