Dataset from Enhanced Langton's ant model: exploring criticality and phase transitions in artificial life systems

Langton's ant demonstrates a fascinating feature as it travels on a lattice field consisting of white and black states. The ant's movements are governed by simple turning rules based on the states of cells it encounters. This results in a transition from random to ordered phase. Langton's ant has garnered significant interest as a minimalistic example of artificial life. However, its potential to exhibit critical properties—an essential aspect of artificial life systems—has not been extensively explored. This study introduced an enhanced Langton's ant model to address this gap. In this proposed framework, the ant (referred to as the walker) considers its prior interaction (revisits) and the conditions of its surrounding cell when determining the state transitions of the lattice. The model demonstrates phase transitions in a specific variable and exhibits scale-free properties and unpredictable dynamic behaviours near critical thresholds.