Karl Simms did this in 1991 (Score 2)

One of the very first things I downloaded from the web in 1994 was this mpeg file of Karl Simms' evolved swimming fish. It was a hell of a download at 10mb over 14.4Kbps, but it was worth it! I am certain this is a hardware version of Simms software project (he did it on one of those giant Thinking Machines Hypercubes that the Defense Department loves so much)

The video shocked me and changed my life. It's a wonderful video to show people that don't believe in evolution. After seeing this, you really have no IGNORE hard to remain IGNORant of the power of evolution.

I can't seem to find a copy of the paper behind this video, but it is equally shocking. Try to find it yourself, it is definately worth reading.

"Artificial Evolution for Computer Graphics", Karl Simms, Computer Graphics, Volume 25:319-328, Number 4, August 1991, SIGGRAPH'91.

I remember at the time thinking it would be great if the simulated hardware in Simms' simulation (how many Simms would a Simms Sim sim if a Simms Sim could sim?) could actually be constructed... you could evolve a robot in a machine, and only actually build it after it was perfected.

Looks like that is exactly what going to happen

-- Win a MINT copy of BYTE MAgazine Issue #1 = September 1975