My research aims to explore how predation pressure influences the evolution of division of labor in eusocial societies. Specifically, I will investigate whether the presence of an adaptive predator can drive the emergence of specialized behavior, such as the emergence of a caste system or coordinated defense strategies, within a simulated ant colony. With guidance from my outside advisor, Layton Alexander Rosen, I will research various common ant colony behaviors that I will model through Unity, then attempt to code a digital anteater, adjusting its behavior to various survival strategies in real life.

I hope that by the end, I will have created a simulation space that roughly models what ants go through in the real world, along with a functional anteater AI that interacts dynamically with the ants. I hope that my final simulation could be dynamically used by anyone with some experience in coding to create further analysis. If time permits, I hope to attempt a reinforcement-learning based anteater model, or coding the abstraction behind genetics and reproduction within ants that gives rise to caste differentiation.