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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Exploring The Modularity And Structure Of Robots Evolved In Multiple Environments, Collin Cappelle
Exploring The Modularity And Structure Of Robots Evolved In Multiple Environments, Collin Cappelle
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Traditional techniques for the design of robots require human engineers to plan every aspect of the system, from body to controller. In contrast, the field of evolu- tionary robotics uses evolutionary algorithms to create optimized morphologies and neural controllers with minimal human intervention. In order to expand the capability of an evolved agent, it must be exposed to a variety of conditions and environments.
This thesis investigates the design and benefits of virtual robots which can reflect the structure and modularity in the world around them. I show that when a robot’s morphology and controller enable it to perceive each …
Improving Scalability Of Evolutionary Robotics With Reformulation, Anton Bernatskiy
Improving Scalability Of Evolutionary Robotics With Reformulation, Anton Bernatskiy
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Creating systems that can operate autonomously in complex environments is a challenge for contemporary engineering techniques. Automatic design methods offer a promising alternative, but so far they have not been able to produce agents that outperform manual designs. One such method is evolutionary robotics. It has been shown to be a robust and versatile tool for designing robots to perform simple tasks, but more challenging tasks at present remain out of reach of the method.
In this thesis I discuss and attack some problems underlying the scalability issues associated with the method. I present a new technique for evolving modular …