Virtual Animated TinkerToys

After years of deep browsing, I still haven't found a mindtoy as elegant and absorbing as SodaConstructor. Visiting them today, I learned about a new project in the works: sodarace "Robots created by both humans and Artificial Intelligences race against each other over a variety of simulated terrains and in the resulting Sodarace league we see how human creativity measures up against the best of machine learning."

This soda toy is a very deep fun thing. And it keeps on getting deeper. It's clearly designed by people who appreciate play, which makes it all the more wondersome that it's a joint venture between: Soda and Queen Mary, University of London and supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.