Slime Mould Games Based on Rough Set Theory

Abstract

Abstract We define games on the medium of plasmodia of slime mould, unicellular organisms that look like giant amoebae. The plasmodia try to occupy all the food pieces they can detect. Thus, two different plasmodia can compete with each other. In particular, we consider game-theoretically how plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum and Badhamia utricularis fight for food. Placing food pieces at different locations determines the behavior of plasmodia. In this way, we can program the plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum and Badhamia utricularis by placing food, and we can examine their motion as a Physarum machine-an abstract machine where states are represented as food pieces and transitions among states are represented as movements of plasmodia from one piece to another. Hence, this machine is treated as a natural transition system. The behavior of the Physarum machine in the form of a transition system can be interpreted in terms of rough set theory that enables modeling some ambiguities in motions of plasmodia. The problem is that there is always an ambiguity which direction of plasmodium propagation is currently chosen: one or several concurrent ones, i.e., whether we deal with a sequential, concurrent or massively parallel motion. We propose to manage this ambiguity using rough set theory. Firstly, we define the region of plasmodium interest as a rough set; secondly, we consider concurrent transitions determined by these regions as a context-based game; thirdly, we define strategies in this game as a rough set; fourthly, we show how these results can be interpreted as a Go game.