MLD PhD Student Loïs Dona Teaching “Artificial Behaviors & Modeling”

We are proud to share that our PhD student Loïs Dona will be teaching the 2026 course Artificial Behaviors & Modeling together with Roman Miletitch.

Loïs, who is a doctoral researcher in the Multimodal Language Department (MLD) and the LEADS group, brings her expertise in artificial intelligence, language emergence, and agent-based modeling directly into the classroom. Her research explores how communication systems can emerge through interaction, combining experimental work with computational modeling — an approach that is central to this course.

About the Course

Artificial Behaviors & Modeling introduces students to artificial behavior as a computational and experimental research method. The course explores how behaviors can be:

• Designed through perception–action loops

• Generated via simple rule-based agents

• Observed and analyzed systematically

• Interpreted in terms of emergence and coordination

Students implement basic agent behaviors such as line following, random walks, and obstacle avoidance, before moving to multi-agent systems and swarm dynamics. Topics include collective coordination, foraging, and language emergence.

A key focus of the course is helping students understand the crucial difference between designed mechanisms and emergent phenomena — a concept that is highly relevant for studying natural communication and social interaction.

The course concludes with a hands-on research project, where students design their own swarm behavior, with the potential to develop it further into a publishable study.