Ant colonies emerge from activity of many individuals behaving according to simple rules. This model has been adapted as a heuristic sorting algorithm for open-ended sorting.
Here an “ant” picks up any object they come across and drop it again when they find other objects of the same type (colour). Order emerges by positive feedback: large piles of objects grow at the expense of small ones.
You need to have Java version 1.5 installed for your browser in order to run the simulation applet.
In the main simulation window you can see a 2-dimensional area with the objects scattered randomly across. Some of the objects are moving – they are being carried by an ant.