AnyLogic year in review 2019

Happy new year from AnyLogic!

Our blog is a great place to keep up with all things AnyLogic. It features how-tos, covers events, and highlights all kinds of content both for and from the AnyLogic community. In this review, we look at what helped define 2019 for AnyLogic and look forward to 2020 and a new decade of simulation modeling. Read on! What are your highlights? Did you miss anything? Did we miss anything?

AnyLogic Software Releases

AnyLogic completes 2019 on version 8.5.1 after a year of many great developments. Significantly, Cloud updates brought much to the platform, including custom UI and API interaction for the integration of simulations into existing business workflows. You can check out the new possibilities for yourself with this custom UI demo model, the API documentation and new AnyLogic Cloud API possibilities blog with code snippets.

Also, the Material Handling Library now includes free moving automatic guided vehicles, as well as new cranes and conveyors. All of which make full use of the new multi-level support in AnyLogic that makes the process of working with layers similar to that found in graphical editors.

The AnyLogic Conference and around the world

In 2019 we enjoyed events in places new and familiar. From Sydney to Chicago, IL, and many places in between, AnyLogic events provided industry and academia with simulation insights, training, and networking. And of course, we share the presentation videos, photos, and case studies.

April 17-18 saw industry specialists in simulation and AI assemble in Austin, Texas, for the AnyLogic Conference 2019. The event featured case study presentations, workshops, and an Artificial Intelligence panel discussion. It highlighted an important and rapidly developing trend for combining simulation and AI, especially machine learning.

You can already register for the AnyLogic Conference 2020 and if you’d like to present, the call for abstracts is now open. Find out more.

Simultaneous events took place on opposite sides of the planet in July, with Birmingham and Sydney hosting a variety of industry specialists. In the write-up, you’ll find automated construction, bio-resource logistics, a look at what is possible with deep reinforcement learning, and more.

Our simulation specialist, Anastasia Zhilaeva, took part in an industry event in Japan and the multimethod capabilities of AnyLogic combined with its Material Handling Library were the focus of attention. If you are interested in AnyLogic in Japan, you can find out more in our Japanese blogs.

Anastasia also authors our in-depth how-to blogs and this year continued the Material Handling Series.

The year’s traveling concluded with another pair of events. This time they took place across the Arabian Sea in Doha, Qatar, and Bangalore, India. The presentations showed supply chain solutions, airport management, and PwC presented AI-Driven Pricing Strategy – directly following up on the Lyle Wallis’s ALC19 Doing Strategy Through Simulation presentation. You can find the presentations in our Indian User Conference YouTube playlist.

AnyLogic White Papers

The increasing synergy between AI and simulation was supported by AnyLogic through webinars, demo models, and case studies. Many of these are collected in the AnyLogic AI pack which also features the white paper Artificial Intelligence and Simulation in Business from our AI lead Dr. Arash Mahdavi and Tyler Wolfe-Adam. It introduces the AI and simulation technologies in use, gives practical and industrial examples, and shows how both simulation and artificial intelligence together make a powerful combination.

For a more general view of multimethod modeling and a look at the state-of-the-art, we also released our paper Multimethod Simulation Modeling for Business Applications. It provides an overview of the three main approaches: system dynamics, discrete event, and agent-based modeling. And, with its guided model building example, it shows why simulation modeling stands apart within the range of modeling tools and technologies.

Models of the Month

This year, each monthly AnyLogic newsletter (sign up) featured a model of the month. The idea was to highlight the type of work and projects people are doing with AnyLogic Cloud. With it, simulation models are easily shareable and can run in standard browsers. And they turned out to be a very popular feature of the newsletter.

With a great thank you to all the simulation modelers, here are 2019’s models of the month:

Community

Of course, the model of the month highlights only part of the AnyLogic community. Many AnyLogic users are active on a wide variety of platforms and forums that help deepen and strengthen the simulation resources available for all. The AnyLogic LinkedIn group continues to be a great place for getting advice, as does Stackoverflow.

Those looking for a deeper dive into various AnyLogic related topics can find exactly that on a variety of blogs. To name just a few, Benjamin Schumann’s Simulation 101 features a multi-part How to Build a Reinforcement Learning Model blog as well as many other insights. Felipe Haro hosts both his noorjax blog and online AnyLogic courses, which help beginners find resources and also take a look at topics including Python, custom routing algorithms, and the Road Traffic Library.

For many, YouTube is an invaluable source and 2019 has seen record activity on the AnyLogic YouTube channel with the How-To series going from strength to strength. AI also featured more this year and the Simulation and Automated Deep Learning webinar proved very popular.

The YouTube community has also taken up the challenge of subtitle translation with many videos now available in multiple languages. Many of you choose to remain anonymous when contributing so, if you’re reading this, thank you!

Away from the AnyLogic channel, you should check out the tips and tricks being shared in the AnyLogic101 playlist. A rapidly developing series that provides bite-sized insights to help with different aspects of AnyLogic simulation.

Looking Forward

It was another good year for simulation modeling with many exciting developments, and we are wholly looking forward to the many opportunities for simulation in the 2020s. May it be fulfilling and successful!

Happy holidays!


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