Boids - Bird flocking simulation with VS2!

[willow badge]

I've always been a fan of multi-agent models, so I decided to implement boids in Minecraft using VS2 ships! For those who don't know, "boids" is a simple algorithm that runs on multiple individual agents, which all interact with each other to produce the emergent flocking behavior seen in birds and schools of fish. This means you can easily add or remove agents from the system easily, since there's no centralized "master controller".

I'm using my LQR ship controller along with CC:VS's ExtendedShipAPI to control the boids, and SomePeripherals for the radar block and the raycaster (currently it's only used to get the ship's facing direction in the shipyard, but might make it so the boids can avoid walls/terrain too).

https://youtu.be/2Fp55DMODHI

Edit: Added a showcase of stylized boids created en masse with VMod
https://youtu.be/b2EvNueZgNw

[civic gate]

that is actually insane

@tiny nest

[willow badge]

Yeah big props to SpaceEye for his nifty lil' mod, especially the raycaster's getFacingDirection method which came in clutch
And with vmod you could easily copy-paste assembled boids, so you could make a ton of cool-looking boids no problem

[tacit latch]

How’d you make the LQR controller?

Been learning how PIDs work and trying to make a self stabilized platform with propellers but eh it’s not going really well though

[verbal marten]

ok give them targets and strap on bombs

[tacit latch]

[willow badge]

I did some reading to learn how to configure an LQR controller for aerial vehicles. YouTube videos helped a lot. Practically, you can generate the gain matrix "K" once externally, like via MATLAB or Octave, and then copy it over to Lua, that works well.

[willow badge]

Decided to try this out, and it worked better than I could've imagined:
https://youtu.be/b2EvNueZgNw

@tiny nest You have made a pair of wonderful addons

[onyx pollen]

Oh you know what, you might even make it look like a bigger swarm by using the Mirage mod

Oh wait right I think you should be able to do it without Mirages

Mass doesnt affect these things I imagine, so you should be able to just build fake birds ontop of one boid

[tranquil knot]

So beautiful

[tacit latch]

Got a link to anything of the stuff you read? I am really interested

[willow badge]

Here's some helpful links:

https://jordan787878.github.io/firstweb/6dofQuadcopter/6dofQuad_LQR.html

https://rpg.ifi.uzh.ch/docs/ICRA18_Foehn.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261036371_LQR_control_for_a_quadrotor_using_unit_quaternions_Modeling_and_simulation

[tacit latch]

thanks mate

[barren field]

VSBirds

[oblique remnant]

Blirds

These look like sky fish