About Me

I am a PhD student in the department of Computer Science at Tufts University, advised by Matthias Scheutz. I am also a research assistant within the Human-Robot Interaction Lab. My research interests lie on artificial life and agent-based modeling. In particular, I have been working on computational models related to natural life aiming on creating new hypothesis about the operation of biological processes.

I am also interested in game development. With 4+ years of professional experience in C++, I have worked on an educational MMO as a back-end programmer and I also worked on the indie game Distortions as a gameplay and tools programmer.

Education

  • PhD. Computer Science - Tufts University
    Medford, Massachusetts, United States
    2015-Present
  • M.Sc. Computer Science - Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
    Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brasil
    2011-2014
    Title: Cellular automata based models for path-planning in mobile robots
  • B.S. Computer Science - Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
    Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brasil
    2005-2010
    Title: Data mining through the use of genetic algorithms

Research

  • (2017) Introducing Simulated Stem Cells into a Bio-Inspired Cell-Cell Communication Mechanism for Structure Regeneration
    Ferreira, G.B.S.; Scheutz, M.; Levin, M.
    In Proceedings of 2017 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI)
    Paper
  • (2017) Investigating the Effects of Noise on a Cell-to-Cell Communication Mechanism for Structure Regeneration
    Ferreira, G.B.S.; Scheutz, M.; Levin, M.
    In Proceedings of The 14th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL)
    Paper
  • (2017) Better than average: analyzing distributions to understand robot behavior in a multi-agent area coverage scenario
    Buckingham, D.; Ferreira, G.B.S.; Scheutz, M.;
    In Proceedings of The 14th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL)
    Paper
  • (2016) Dynamic Structure Discovery and Repair for 3D Cell Assemblages
    Ferreira, G.B.S.; Smiley, M.; Scheutz, M.; Levin, M.
    In Proceedings of The 15th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFEXV)
    Paper
  • (2015) Following Strategies Reduces Accidents, but Makes Outcomes Worse: Evidence from Simulated Treefrog Mating Scenarios
    Ferreira, G.B.S.; Scheutz, M.
    In Proceedings of The European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL)
    Paper
  • (2015) Investigating a Cellular Automata Model that Performs Three Distance Diffusion on a Robot Path Planning
    Oliveira, G.M.B.; Vargas, P.A.; Ferreira, G.B.S.
    In Proceedings of The European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL)
    Paper
  • (2014) An Improved Cellular Automata-based Model for Robot Path-planning
    Ferreira, G.B.S.; Vargas, P.A.; Oliveira, G.M.B.
    In Proceedings of 15th Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS)
    Paper
  • (2010) Secret Key Specification for a Variable-length Cryptographic Cellular Automata-based Model
    Oliveira, G.M.B.; Martins, L.G.A.; Ferreira, G.B.S.; Alt, L.S
    In Proceedings of 11th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN)
    Paper
  • (2010) Exhaustive Evaluation of Radius 2 Toggle Rules for a Variable-length Cellular Automata Cryptographic Model
    Oliveira, G.M.B.; Martins, L.G.A.; Alt, L.S; Ferreira, G.B.S.
    In Proceedings of 9th International Conference on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry (ACRI)
    Paper

Game Development

Past Projects

Distortions (2013-2014)

Distortions is an unique exploration game where music is not only important, but also essential for the progression of the story. The player guides the protagonist - a young girl - through a large and lonely world on a self knowledge journey. At her disposal there is only an old violin which she can play in order to protect her, to defeat enemies and even to manipulate the environment. There are so many questions about what is happening in this world and the girl needs to find answers of those questions and mainly how she is supposed to get out of this world.
This game is currently under development in C++ and powered by the (now retired) C4 Engine. I worked on this as a gameplay and tools programmer.

Eu Jogo Limpo Com São Paulo (2014)

Eu Jogo Limpo Com São Paulo is a game that was part of a marketing campaing promoted by the government of São Paulo (Brazil). The game was developed in C# and powered by Unity 3D, I worked on all gameplay programming and Facebook integration.

Goumi (2010-2011)

Goumi was an educational massive multiplayer online game that had as a goal to teach children some economical concepts such as, offer and demand, price variation and even stock market. Children were encouraged to collaborate with each other in order to increase their earnings. The game was developed in C# and powered by Unity 3D. However, I worked on the back end, coding all multiplayer logic and making sure that the server had high availability and reliability. The server was developed in C++, making use of boost library and PostgreSQL database.

Jam Games

One More Zombie Game (2013)

During a zombie apocalipse, the protagonist found himself alone and trapped in the basement of a building. After one month he finally have gotten a frequency in his radio - a helicopter is on the top of the building. Now he needs to climb all 20 levels to reach the helicopter as soon as possible. One More Zombie Game is a survival roguelike that I developed in two days to submit to the 7 Day Roguelike Challenge in 2013. The game is playable, but it is not complete. The game was coded in Action Script 3 powered by the game library Flashpunk.

Superliga - Semi Finals (2013)

Superliga Semi Finals is a prototype of a simulation of a volleyball game that I coded in a weekend for some random jam. The player is the coach and needs to select a few options to try to win a game while training a worse team. The simulation was coded in Action Script 3 powered by the game library Flashpunk.

Nano Flow Bot (2013)

Nano Flow Bot is a game developed in a weekend for the Global Game Jam edition of 2013. The theme was "the sound of a heartbeat" and my team (three people) decided to create a small puzzle game where the player needs to "link" the "heart" with the "brain" avoiding wrong paths. The game was coded in Action Script 3 powered by the game library Flashpunk.

Other Projects

Go Influence Maps (2014)

Collaborator in an engine that applies the concept of influence maps to play the board game Go. This engine was the base of one publication: Santos, G. M., da Silva Julia, R. M., Saito, M., Aguiar, M. A. (2016). Neural Networks Learning the Concept of Influence in Go. In FLAIRS Conference (pp. 340-345)

CADL - Cellular Automata Development Library (2010)

A free, fast and generic C++ library to 1/2/3-dimensional cellular automata software development.