Short · Science
How do a few turns become one direction?
Give each agent the same speed, neighborhood and seeded random turns; change only how strongly it aligns with nearby headings.
Try it yourself
Opens Flocking Local Rules. Change the same thing yourself.
Transcript
How do a few turns become one direction? Each agent moves at the same speed. It checks nearby headings, then turns partway toward their average. Random kicks remain. Now raise alignment; hold noise, neighborhood, speed, and seed fixed. Across repeated runs, the group’s average direction becomes more coherent. The order parameter measures that shared heading. One frame can wobble; this is not a bird flock. Try it yourself at Explainer Tools dot com.