Create a gradient for a turtle swarm - netlogo

Question

I created a rectangular turtle grid using a total of 1000 turtles.
let in-shape patches with [ pxcor >= -50 and pxcor <= 50 and pycor >= -5 and pycor <= 5 ]
ask in-shape [ sprout 1 ]
Now I need to create a sort of gradient, that will give a sense of distance to my turtle swarm. Given a "seed" with value 0, it emits a message with its value 0 in a certain talk_radius.
The turtles inside this talk_radius compute their distance to the seed. If the distance is less than a fixed value (called gradient_distance) the turtle will assume 1 as gradient_value, emitting a message with its value.
The other turtles do the same. So everyone will take the value x + 1, where x is the lowest value of the turtle within the gradient_distance, as shown in the picture
This is the relative algorithm in pseudo code:
loop
if gradient seed = TRUE then // check if robot is designated as gradient source
gradient value(self) = 0
else
gradient value(self) = GRADIENT MAX
for all neighbors n do
if measured distance(n) < G then // G represents the gradient-distance and GRADIENT MAX is infinity
if gradient value(n) < gradient value(self) then
gradient value(self) = gradient value(n)
gradient value(self) = gradient value(self) + 1
transmit gradient value(self)
And that's my implementation in netlogo:
globals [talk_radius gradient_max gradient_distance]
turtles-own [gradient_seed gradient_value]
to setup
ca
resize-world -60 60 -20 20
crt 1000
let in-shape patches with [ pxcor >= -50 and pxcor <= 50 and pycor >= -5 and pycor <= 5 ]
ask in-shape [ sprout 1 ]
set talk_radius 4
set gradient_max 100000
set gradient_distance 1
ask turtles
[set shape "circle"]
ask turtles-on patch -50 5
[set gradient_seed true]
end
to gradient-formation
while [true]
[
ask turtles
[
ifelse (gradient_seed = true)
[
set gradient_value 0
]
[
set gradient_value gradient_max
set color scale-color green gradient_value 0 120
ask (other turtles) in-radius talk_radius with [distance myself <= gradient_distance] ;; i consider all the turtle in talk_radius having the right gradient_distance
[
let a ([gradient_value] of self) ;; "of self" is not necessary but helped me for a better comprehension
if (a < ([gradient_value] of myself))
[
ask myself [set gradient_value a]
]
]
set gradient_value (gradient_value + 1)
]
set color scale-color green gradient_value 0 120
]
]
end
I used a scale-color in order to have a feedback of what i have done, as you can see in the image.
And now the problem: instead of let a ([gradient_value] of self), i tried set a ([gradient_value] of self) adding a to the turtle variable (I added a in the turtle-own list on top).
I thought the result would have been the same, but instead i got a constantly increasing gradient_value for every turtle as you can see in the image(the color white denotes a very high gradient_value).
Why this difference? Thank you in advance and sorry for the long question.

Answer 1

EDITED EXTENSIVELY in response to discussion that refined the problem
First, I would like to start with a simpler version of the code. I believe this is exactly the same as yours without the while[true]. I removed the extra 1000 turtles you are creating, and separated the ifelse on whether a seed into two separate ask statements, for clarity. I also moved the colouring until after the value calculation is complete.
globals [talk_radius gradient_max gradient_distance]
turtles-own [gradient_seed? gradient_value]
to setup
clear-all
resize-world -60 60 -20 20
let in-shape patches with [ pxcor >= -50 and pxcor <= 50 and pycor >= -5 and pycor <= 5 ]
ask in-shape
[ sprout 1
[ set shape "circle"
set gradient_seed? false
]
]
set talk_radius 4
set gradient_max 100000
set gradient_distance 1
repeat 10 [ gradient-formation ]
end
to gradient-formation
ask turtles-on patch -50 5
[ set gradient_seed? true
set gradient_value 0
]
ask turtles with [not gradient_seed?]
[ set gradient_value gradient_max
ask (other turtles) in-radius talk_radius with [distance myself <= gradient_distance]
[ let my-gradval ([gradient_value] of self)
if my-gradval < [gradient_value] of myself
[ ask myself [set gradient_value my-gradval]
]
]
set gradient_value (gradient_value + 1)
]
ask turtles [set color scale-color green gradient_value 0 120 ]
end
There is a conceptual issue here. Until a turtle has its gradient_value calculated, it is 0. This means a large number of turtles will have a 0 turtle nearby and then have their own gradient_value as 1. It does not produce a colour gradient. To get around this, you need to run the gradient-formation several times. The approach in your code of while [true] introduces an infinite loop. Instead, you can repeat an arbitrary number of times (10 in the code above).
The problem with let versus set + turtles-won is that the set with turtles-own creates 1000 copies of gradient_value - one for each turtle. The let version creates a (temporary) global variable that all turtles access. So when you use set, you are setting it for that turtle, not as a general access number. I think what is happening is that the line set gradient_value my-gradval is accessing the wrong turtle's copy of my-gradval.
But, from the discussion, the purpose of the code that is causing the problem is to find a local minimum. There is a much more direct way of doing that.
to gradient-formation
ask turtles-on patch -50 5
[ set gradient_seed? true
set gradient_value 0
]
ask turtles with [not gradient_seed?]
[ set gradient_value 1 + min [gradient_value] of
other turtles in-radius min (list talk_radius gradient_distance)
]
ask turtles [set color scale-color green gradient_value 0 120 ]
end
ADDED a minimum working example to show the differences.
This is the let (global variable) version
turtles-own [testval]
to testme
clear-all
create-turtles 500
[ setxy random-xcor random-ycor
set color blue
set testval 1 + random 10
]
ask one-of turtles
[ set color red
inspect self
type "testval of asking turtle is " print testval
ask turtles-on neighbors
[ set color yellow
let my-testval [testval] of self ;; creates a temp global variable
type "my-testval is " print my-testval
if my-testval < [testval] of myself
[ ask myself
[ set testval my-testval ;; copies the global variable value
]
]
]
]
end
This is the set (turtle attribute) version
turtles-own [testval my-testval]
to testme
clear-all
create-turtles 500
[ setxy random-xcor random-ycor
set color blue
set testval 1 + random 10
]
ask one-of turtles
[ set color red
inspect self
type "testval of asking turtle is " print testval
ask turtles-on neighbors
[ set color yellow
set my-testval [testval] of self
type "my-testval is " print my-testval
if my-testval < [testval] of myself
[ ask myself
[ set testval my-testval ;; copies value from one attribute to other
]
]
]
]
end