The Problem: While many robots in industry and research have proven capable of operating in complex environments, most robots still fall well short of living creatures in their ability to deal with extreme variations in their environment. Living creatures, by contrast, will typically cope in any environment to the extent that their physical bodies allow. Living creatures never give up trying to...

In this workshop, I introduce some of the reasons for my fascination with alife and my desire to use it for music making. I also talk about some of the joys and sorrows of the collaboration process. Four alife worlds, Feeping Creatures, Spinners, Gakkimon Planet and Listening Sky are described in the order they were made. I talk about what I like and dislike about each one and how I would like ...