Is this good for hobbyists & makers?

Yes — this version of "Ant Colony Optimization for a percolation cluster" is framed for hobbyists & makers exploring it for fun. Play with real physics and math, no license and no setup — just open and tinker.

Do I need to install anything?

No. It runs in any modern browser, free, with no account required.

For Hobbyists & Makers · Ant Colony Optimization

Ant Colony Optimization for a percolation cluster

Built for hobbyists & makers exploring it for fun. Play with real physics and math, no license and no setup — just open and tinker. Simulate a percolation cluster live below — adjust the inputs and watch it respond, right in your browser.

Ant Colony OptimizationLive

swarm intelligence · TSP

Controls

Speed1×

Presets

Cities

Ants

Evaporation

Simulated ants lay pheromone (cyan) on short routes; trails evaporate over time so good paths reinforce and bad ones fade. The colony collectively finds near-optimal tours of the Traveling Salesman Problem — the green loop is the best so far.

▶ Run in Python

Data Inspector

Iteration0

Best tour0

Cities15

Governing equation

p_{ij} = \frac{τ _{ij}^{α} η _{ij}^{β}}{\sum _{k} τ _{ik}^{α} η _{ik}^{β}}, τ_{ij} \leftarrow (1 - ρ) τ_{ij} + Δ τ_{ij}, α = 1, β = 3, ρ = 0.10

Reading this result: With 15 cities and 20 ants, 10% evaporation balances exploring new edges against reinforcing the best tour found so far.

Runs locally in your browser — free forever. Scale to the cloud when reality gets heavy.

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Frequently asked questions

Is this good for hobbyists & makers?: Yes — this version of "Ant Colony Optimization for a percolation cluster" is framed for hobbyists & makers exploring it for fun. Play with real physics and math, no license and no setup — just open and tinker.
Do I need to install anything?: No. It runs in any modern browser, free, with no account required.