Cellular Automata

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Overview

Cellular automata model grids of cells whose states change through repeated rules, offering a compact way to study emergence, computation, and spatial dynamics. Work spans classical Life-like and Lenia systems, neural cellular automata with learned updates, programmable rules, and transformers that infer multidimensional rules from examples. Applications include self-replicating artificial life, wildfire spread, and traffic flow, using methods such as probabilistic and physics-informed updates and evaluating pattern growth, forecast overlap, and vehicle-count conservation. A central tension is whether local rules suffice when global information can help, and whether learned systems remain stable, interpretable, and generalize beyond training conditions.

Latest papers

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15 papers5 papers in the last four weeks, up 67% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Bidirectionality is Necessary in Cellular Machines for Exact-Arrival Multi-Agent Path Finding

    Oct 19, 2026Masashi AonoMulti-Agent Path FindingCellular Automata

    Amoeba Energy Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan · Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan

  2. Shape irregularity of Life-Like Network Automaton rules as an indicator of classification performance

    Oct 7, 2026Lucas C. S. Oliveira, Michiel Rollier, Jan Baetens +1Graph ClassificationCellular Automata

    Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science University of S˜ao Paulo S˜ao Carlos, 13566-590, Brazil · BionamiX, Dept. of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling Ghent University Ghent, 9000, Belgium · AICS, S˜ao Carlos Institute of Physics University of S˜ao Paulo S˜ao Carlos, 13566-590, Brazil

  3. Learning Traffic Flow Dynamics with Stochastic Physics-Informed Neural Cellular Automata

    Oct 7, 2026Federica Bragone, Matthieu BarreauTraffic Flow TheoryNeural Cellular Automata

    Department of Decision and Control Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

  4. Spatial Induction Heads: In-Context Learning of Multidimensional Cellular Automata

    Oct 6, 2026Kimia Kazemian, Menghan Xu, John Thickstun +1In-Context LearningInduction Heads

    Cornell University

  5. Where Does Randomness Matter in Neural Cellular Automata?

    Sep 29, 2026Fei Zuo, Jiaqi Shi, Yujing LiuNeural Cellular AutomataCellular Automata

    Fudan University · Independent Researcher · Shanghai Pupuda Culture Communication Co., Ltd.

  6. Self-Replicating Neural Cellular Automata: Quantifying Emergent Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity in an OpenEnded Substrate

    Sep 17, 2026Sanyam Jain, Felix Simon Reimers, Stefano NicheleNeural Cellular AutomataArtificial Life

    Department of Computer Science and Communication, Østfold University of Applied Sciences, B R A veien 4, 1757 Halden, Norway · Department of Computer Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, Pilestredet 35, 0166 Oslo, Norway

  7. Programmable Cellular Automata

    Sep 5, 2026Ahmed Khalifa, Muhammad Umair Nasir, Matthew Siper +2Cellular AutomataGenerative Modeling

    Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta, 20 L. Esperanto, L-Imsida, Malta · Nof1, 665 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 10012, USA · University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Ave, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017, South Africa +1

  8. Random Forest-Informed Cellular Automaton for Large-Scale Wildfire Spread Modelling

    Sep 1, 2026Siyu Chen, Esha Saha, Hao WangCellular AutomataWildfire Forecasting

  9. It's Much Easier for Neural Networks to learn Game of Life Dynamics with the Right Activation Function: Polynomial Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks

    Jun 22, 2026Tashin Ahmed, Q. Tyrell DavisPolynomial Neural NetworksCellular Automata

    Independent Researcher · Work completed while at Cross Labs, Cross Compass Ltd., Japan.

  10. The Artificial Experimentalist: Discovery and Control of Self-Organizing Phenomena with Autotelic Reinforcement Learning

    Jun 10, 2026Marko Cvjetko, Benedikt Hartl, Michael Levin +2Agentic RLReinforcement Learning

    Inria Centre at the University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France · Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA · Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA +1

  11. Neural-Parameterized Cellular Automata for Wildfire Spread

    Jun 10, 2026Maksym Zhenirovskyy, Ion Matei, Rohit Vuppala +2Neural Cellular AutomataCellular Automata

    Fujitsu Research of America, 4655 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, 95124, CA, USA

  12. Agnosiophobia in a virtual agent: behavioral and dynamical architecture in Lenia

    May 29, 2026Jesse Cool, Benedikt Hartl, Michael Levin +1Cellular AutomataAgent-Based Modeling

    Department of Mathematics, Tufts University · Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University · Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

  13. Von Neumann Networks

    May 7, 2026Shekhar S. ChandraNeural Cellular AutomataCellular Automata

    School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Queensland, Australia.

  14. A New Kind of Network? Review and Reference Implementation of Neural Cellular Automata

    Apr 27, 2026Martin Spitznagel, Janis KeuperNeural Cellular AutomataCellular Automata

    Institute for Machine Learning and Analytics (IMLA), Offenburg University, Germany · University of Mannheim, Germany

  15. Evolving Symbiosis, from Barricelli's Legacy to Collective Intelligence: a simulated and conceptual approach

    Mar 9, 2026James Ashford, Marko Cvjetko, Richard Löffler +6Open-Ended EvolutionArtificial Life

    Independent Researcher, Oxford, UK · Inria Center at the University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France · University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark +4