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View all notes → NOTE 001JUL 2026
Second Place at GECCO 2026: The Benchmark Design Challenge for Continuous Optimisation
Official results from GECCO 2026's BenchDesign competition — an inverted challenge where the task is to design hard optimization problems, not solve them. AC_TUWien won outright; this entry placed second, shared with four other teams.
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NOTE 002SEP 2025
A Day at the Largs Viking Festival 2025
A visit to the Largs Viking Festival on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland: the encampment, a coin-striking demonstration, and an evening battle reenactment, seen through a growing interest in digital humanities.
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NOTE 003MAY 2023
Can Large Language Models Solve Optimisation Problems?
A new study explores how GPT-3.5 can generate and debug optimisation models in MiniZinc, bringing us closer to automated problem-solving.
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NOTE 004JUL 2022
AutoMH - When Computer Programs Learn to Write Better Computer Programs
How computer programs learned to create better computer programs all by themselves, like digital evolution happening right before our eyes
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All Notes
Second Place at GECCO 2026: The Benchmark Design Challenge for Continuous Optimisation
JUL 2026
Official results from GECCO 2026's BenchDesign competition — an inverted challenge where the task is to design hard optimization problems, not solve them. AC_TUWien won outright; this entry placed second, shared with four other teams.
A Day at the Largs Viking Festival 2025
SEP 2025
A visit to the Largs Viking Festival on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland: the encampment, a coin-striking demonstration, and an evening battle reenactment, seen through a growing interest in digital humanities.
Can Large Language Models Solve Optimisation Problems?
MAY 2023
A new study explores how GPT-3.5 can generate and debug optimisation models in MiniZinc, bringing us closer to automated problem-solving.
AutoMH - When Computer Programs Learn to Write Better Computer Programs
JUL 2022
How computer programs learned to create better computer programs all by themselves, like digital evolution happening right before our eyes
The Aerial Acrobats: How Hummingbird Flight Patterns Inspire Revolutionary Optimization Algorithms That Solve Complex Problems
AUG 2021
A groundbreaking bio-inspired algorithm captures the extraordinary maneuverability of hummingbirds—their translations, rotations, and complex turns—transforming these aerial acrobatics into powerful computational tools for solving optimization challenges that stump traditional methods.
Digital Puzzle Masters: How Computer Programs Spent Six Days Solving the Ultimate Factory Organization Challenge with Mathematical Perfection
APR 2019
Scientists created systematic experiments that searched through billions of factory arrangements for six days straight to find the mathematically perfect way to organize machines and parts into three manufacturing cells, achieving optimal solutions for the first time.
Digital Andean Condors Soaring Through Mathematical Landscapes: How South America's Master Gliders Taught Computers to Navigate Infinite Optimization Spaces
APR 2019
Scientists created computer programs that explore continuous mathematical landscapes using the same soaring strategies Andean condors use to search vast mountain territories, achieving near-perfect solutions with elegant simplicity.
The Digital Rangers: How Artificial Intelligence Learned to Protect Virtual Ecosystems from Collapse
MAR 2019
A revolutionary breakthrough in artificial intelligence demonstrates how autonomous multi-agent systems can prevent ecosystem collapse by dynamically regulating predator-prey populations, offering new insights for conservation and environmental management in an era of climate change.
Virtual Wildlife Guardians: How Digital Herds Choose Perfect Nature Reserves and Save Species from Extinction
MAY 2018
Scientists discovered how to teach computers to think like migrating wildlife herds, creating virtual ecosystems that help us choose which wild spaces to protect forever—and the results are revolutionizing conservation across the globe.
The Andean Condor Algorithm – How Nature's Giant Soarer Inspires Smarter Factories
MAR 2018
A novel optimization algorithm modeled after the flight of the Andean condor shows surprising advantages over classical metaheuristics in solving complex industrial problems.
Empires of Efficiency: How Historical Power Struggles Are Revolutionizing Modern Manufacturing
SEP 2017
Scientists at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso discovered how the strategic dynamics of historical empire-building can solve modern manufacturing problems, using competition and conquest to find optimal factory layouts that traditional methods often miss.
Empires of Efficiency: How Historical Power Struggles Are Revolutionizing Modern Manufacturing
SEP 2017
Scientists at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso discovered how the strategic dynamics of historical empire-building can solve modern manufacturing problems, using competition and conquest to find optimal factory layouts that traditional methods often miss.
Digital Buffalo Conservation Optimization: How Virtual Herds Are Revolutionizing Wildlife Protection with Mathematics
AUG 2017
Scientists discover how the collective wisdom of African buffalo herds can be transformed into powerful computer programs that solve conservation's most heartbreaking math problem: choosing which species to save when money is tight.
The Art of Algorithmic Neighborhoods: How Three Simple Strategies Revolutionized Bird-Inspired Manufacturing
JUL 2017
A comprehensive comparative study reveals how different neighbor generation strategies in migrating bird algorithms can dramatically impact manufacturing optimization performance through subtle but crucial algorithmic refinements.
Digital Fireflies and Mechanical Vultures: How Nature's Most Strategic Hunters Revolutionized Factory Organization Through Binary Precision
JUN 2017
Scientists created computer programs combining the flashing communication of fireflies with the tool-using intelligence of Egyptian vultures to solve complex factory layouts, achieving perfect optimization in every test.
Digital Bees Mastering Factory Layouts: How Adaptive Honey Bee Intelligence Revolutionized Manufacturing Organization with Perfect Precision
MAY 2017
Scientists created computer programs that organize factories using the same adaptive strategies honey bees use to find the best flower patches, with colonies that grow and shrink based on success to achieve optimal results.
The Honey Architects: How Digital Bees Are Revolutionizing Factory Design Through Perfect Manufacturing Optimization
MAY 2017
A groundbreaking study demonstrates how the collective intelligence of artificial bee colonies can perfectly solve complex manufacturing cell design problems, achieving optimal solutions across 90 different factory scenarios by mimicking nature's most efficient foragers.
Digital Savannas: How Virtual Buffalo Herds Are Revealing the Secrets of Ecosystem Balance and Survival
JAN 2017
A groundbreaking computational simulation combines African buffalo behavior, cellular automata, and multi-agent systems to reveal how predator-prey relationships maintain ecological balance and what happens when that balance is disrupted in natural ecosystems.
The Buzzing Revolution: How Honeybees Are Teaching Computers to Build Smarter Factories
JAN 2017
A groundbreaking adaptation of bee colony behavior shows how nature's most efficient workers can revolutionize factory design through adaptive population algorithms.
Digital Flowers Perfect Factory Gardens: How Nature's Pollination Network Revolutionizes Manufacturing Organization with Mathematical Precision
DEC 2016
Scientists created computer programs that mimic flower pollination networks to hunt through millions of factory arrangements, achieving perfect solutions in every single test by copying nature's most sophisticated reproductive optimization system.
The Great Deception: How Cuckoo Birds Are Teaching Factories the Art of Strategic Replacement
OCT 2016
Scientists at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso discovered how cuckoo birds' parasitic breeding strategy can solve manufacturing optimization problems with perfect accuracy, finding optimal solutions for complex factory layouts that traditional methods often miss.
Digital Bats Hunting for Perfect Factory Layouts: How Echolocation Taught Computers to Organize Manufacturing with Perfect Precision
JUN 2016
Scientists created computer programs that hunt through millions of factory arrangements using the same echolocation strategies that help bats catch mosquitoes in darkness, achieving perfect solutions in every single test.
Digital Birds Perfect Factory Democracy: How Nature's Leadership Exchange Revolutionizes Manufacturing Organization
JUN 2016
Scientists created computer programs that mimic migrating bird leadership exchanges to hunt through millions of factory arrangements, achieving perfect solutions by copying nature's most sophisticated democracy in flight.
Digital Fireflies Illuminate Perfect Factory Layouts: How Nature's Light Show Revolutionizes Manufacturing Organization with Mathematical Precision
JUN 2016
Scientists created computer programs that mimic firefly light displays to hunt through millions of factory arrangements, achieving 92.8% success in finding perfect solutions by copying nature's most enchanting coordination dance.
V-Formation Virtuosity: How Migrating Birds Are Teaching Factories to Fly in Perfect Formation
JAN 2016
A groundbreaking parallel sorting algorithm inspired by migrating bird formations demonstrates how nature's most efficient travelers can revolutionize factory organization and manufacturing optimization.
Digital Dolphins Navigate Perfect Factory Layouts: How Ocean Intelligence Revolutionizes Manufacturing Organization
JAN 2016
Scientists created computer programs that mimic dolphin echolocation to hunt through millions of factory arrangements, achieving perfect solutions by copying nature's most sophisticated underwater navigation system.
When Metaheuristics Meet Interface Design: How Nature-Inspired Algorithms Are Revolutionizing User Experience
JAN 2016
A groundbreaking collaboration between computer scientists and designers demonstrates how nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms can automatically optimize user interface layouts, creating more intuitive and efficient digital experiences for millions of users worldwide.
The Digital Factory Architects - How Computer Programs Learned to Organize Manufacturing Like Never Before
NOV 2015
Scientists created computer programs that can organize manufacturing plants more efficiently than traditional methods, helping factories group machines and products in ways that minimize waste and maximize productivity.
Flying Factories: How Migrating Birds Taught Computers to Organize Manufacturing Plants
JAN 2015
Scientists discovered that the way birds fly together in V-formations contains secrets for organizing factory machines more efficiently than traditional methods.
The Quest for Mining's Perfect Planner: How Scientists Found the Best Computer Program for Open-Pit Operations
JAN 2014
In search of the ultimate mining planning tool, scientists embarked on a quest to find which computer program could best solve the incredibly complex challenge of optimizing open-pit mining operations through constraint programming techniques.
