Work · alternatives · 2026

This project simulates the entire neural system of C. elegans, a microscopic roundworm commonly used in neuroscience research. It recreates the worm's 302 neurons and their connections to model how the organism… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. My friend's project to simulate an entire C. Elegans launched in 2013; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   Nematoduino – Implementing a Worm on the Arduino UNO▲101

   Arduino UNO-compatible robotic simulation of the C. elegans nematode - nategri/nematoduino

   2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

2. 2
   High-Res Neural Cellular Automata▲208

   Neural CAs model self-organizing pattern formation. Now they can generate patterns at HD resolution in real-time, enabled by turning each CA cell into a Neural Field. Try 3 demos: grow a pattern from a seed (and damage it, it heals), synthesize PBR textures that can regenerate, or create 3D textures like clouds.

   Jun 2026 · cells2pixels.github.io · its alternatives →

3. 3
   Evolving Corals with Neuroevolution and Novelty Search▲64

   A research project simulating the evolution of virtual corals - 2018.

   2018 · joelsimon.net · its alternatives →

4. 4
   Swarm – Program a colony of 200 ants using a custom assembly language▲190

   We built an ant colony simulation as an internal hiring challenge at Moment and decided to open it up publicly. You write a program in a custom assembly-like (we call it ant-ssembly) instruction set that controls 200 ants. Each ant can sense nearby cells (food, pheromones, home, other ants) but has no global view. The only coordination mechanism is pheromone trails, which ants can emit and sense them, but that's it. Your program runs identically on every ant. The goal is to collect the highest percentage of food across a set of maps. Different map layouts (clustered food, scattered,…

   Mar 2026 · dev.moment.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Fly.exe – An EON systems like virtual fruit fly uploaded to computer▲23

   Runs the complete released Drosophila male CNS connectome (165,122 neurons, 25.5M edges) inside a physical fly body, in closed loop, on one GPU. - Ibtisam-Mohammad/Fly.exe

   Sep 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Neural Particle Automata▲88

   Neural CAs model self-organizing pattern formation on grids. Now the grid is gone. Each cell is an agentic particle that can move freely in space and change its state. While each particle follows a simple shared rule, many together can grow complex morphologies or form intricate patterns. The resulting particle system as a whole can regenerate from damage and exhibits surprising emergent behavior. Try cutting the lizard and watch it heal itself!

   Jun 2026 · selforg-npa.github.io · its alternatives →

7. 7GB
   Genetic Boids Web Simulation▲158

   2025 · attentionmech.github.io · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Visual A* pathfinding and maze generation in Python▲135

   I was fascinated reading through another recent HN submission about a highly efficient implementation of A* in Lisp, which got me thinking about how I could do something similar in Python. However, these kinds of pathfinding algorithms really need complex terrain/mazes with interesting obstructions to showcase what they can do and how they work. So, I started thinking about how I could generate cool and diverse random "mazes" (they aren't really mazes, but I'm not sure what the best term is). I got a bit carried away thinking of lots of different cool ways to generate these mazes, such…

   2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

9. 9W1
   Watch 14-Byte AI "brains" attempt to solve a 2D maze (Its hard)▲25

   Hey HackerNews, I built this project over the last few weeks as a palette cleanser from a failed game launch. I wanted to learn a bit about AI/Neural-Networks and naively thought I could build a tiny maze-solving AI in a weekend with a 100% solve rate. Well - I couldn't, but I got pretty close. 14 Bytes total model size, and a 96.5% solve rate on unseen mazes. Trained across 46 phases experimenting with different ideas to improve the model (better performance, smaller size). Its quite fun to watch the model attempt to solve the maze, when they fail its usually due to getting stuck in a…

   Jul 2026 · con-dog.github.io · its alternatives →

10. 10CW
    Critters with neural net brains coevolve to survive killer planks in JS▲65

    2015 · otoro.net · its alternatives →

11. 11
    Decided to play god this morning, so I built an agent civilisation▲51

    at a pub in london, 2 weeks ago - I asked myself, if you spawned agents into a world with blank neural networks and zero knowledge of human existence — no language, no economy, no social templates — what would they evolve on their own? would they develop language? would they reproduce? would they evolve as energy dependent systems? what would they even talk about? so i decided to make myself a god, and built WERLD - an open-ended artificial life sim, where the agent's evolve their own neural architecture. Werld drops 30 agents onto a graph with NEAT neural networks that evolve their own…

    Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

12. 12AB
    A browser-based neural network simulation▲31

    2015 · neurovis.dataphoric.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Neuron▲126

    Teaching machines to learn

    2016 · its alternatives →

14. 14AN
    A new A.I. Algorithm for Polygonal Mesh Mazes▲101

    2012 · petercottle.com · its alternatives →

15. 15TA
    Terra, a JS framework for cellular automata and biological simulations▲121

    2014 · rileyjshaw.com · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Pathway Designr▲67

    Visual tool for drawing and simulating reaction networks

    2016 · pathwaydesigner.org · its alternatives →

17. 17
    Modeling the human body in Rust so I can cmd+click through it▲46

    I started this trying to understand two things: why my Asian friends turn red after drinking, and why several friends all seemed to have migraine clusters. I was reading medical papers and textbooks, but kept getting lost jumping between topics. I thought: what if I could just Cmd+Click through this like code? What if "ALDH2 gene" was actually clickable, and took me to the variant, the phenotype, the population frequencies? So I started modeling human biology in Rust with my Ralph agent (Claude in a loop, ty ghuntley). Turns out the type system is perfect for this. Every biological entity is…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

18. 18
    EyeWire▲57

    A crowdsourced game to map the 3D structure of the brain

    2015 · eyewire.org · its alternatives →

19. 19AV
    A Visual and Interactive Guide to the Basics of Neural Networks▲63

    Discussions: Hacker News (63 points, 8 comments), Reddit r/programming (312 points, 37 comments) Translations: Arabic, French, Spanish Update: Part 2 is now live: A Visual And Interactive Look at Basic Neural Network Math Motivation I’m not a machine learning expert. I’m a software engineer by train

    2016 · jalammar.github.io · its alternatives →

20. 20
    IEEE Micromouse simulator – write and test maze-solving code▲38

    A Micromouse simulator: write and test maze-solving code without a physical robot - mackorone/mms

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Brain Simulator▲75

    Create your own AI Brain

    2016 · goodai.com · its alternatives →

22. 22AG
    A genetic simulator for artificial life▲36

    2016 · leverlabs.io · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Single neuron neural network written in COBOL▲94

    A perceptron written in COBOL. Contribute to victorqribeiro/perceptronCobol development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

24. 24AB
    A biological circuit simulator built with Godot▲12

    2022 · thesciencegab.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →