The Virtual FishTank, at the Museum of Science, Boston, demonstrates and explains emergent behavior.
Five species of fish swim freely between twelve large, rear-projected
screens. Visitors can change the rules that each species of fish follows,
and then watch the schooling patterns that emerge. For example, the fish
have a rule that tells them to try to swim in the same direction as their
neighbors. Turning off this rule causes the fish to swarm rather than
school.
Visitors can also build their own fish, select the rules that it follows,
release it into the big tank, and watch how it behaves and responds. As
the visitors change their fish's rules, its appearance also changes. For
example, making a fish very hungry will give it a large and fierce mouth.
Three other stations allow the visitors to change the tank environment.
A big wheel releases food into the tank, a lever controls the amount of
air given to a diver, and a digital camera picks up visitors' movements,
allowing the fish to respond to waving motions.
Brian Knep was responsible for the system architecture and provided creative and technical direction as part of a team for Nearlife, Inc.