Paper available on adaptive classification with autonomous robots

[Stefano Nolfi]

Paper available via WWW / FTP: 

Keywords: Active Perception, Adaptive Behaviors, Evolutionary Robotics, 
          Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms.
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  ADAPTATION AS A MORE POWERFUL TOOL THAN DECOMPOSITION AND INTEGRATION

                            Stefano Nolfi
                  Institute of Psychology, C.N.R., Rome.

Recently  a  new  way  of building control systems, known as behavior based 
robotics, has been proposed to overcome the difficulties of the traditional 
AI approach to robotics. Most of  the work done in  behavior-based robotics 
involves a decomposition  process (in which the behavior required is broken 
down into simpler  sub-components) and an integration process (in which the 
modules designed to produce the sub-behaviors are  put together).  In  this 
paper we  claim that  decomposition and integration should be the result of 
an adaptation process and not of the decision of an experimenter.To support 
this hypothesis we show how  in  the  case of a simple task in which a real 
autonomous robot is supposed  to  classify objects of different shapes,  by  
letting the entire behavior emerge through an evolutionary technique,a more 
simple and robust solution can be obtained than  by  trying to design a set 
of modules and to integrate them.


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Stefano Nolfi 
Institute of Psychology, C.N.R.
Viale Marx, 15 - 00137 - Rome - Italy
voice:  0039-6-86090231
fax:    0039-6-824737 
e-mail: stefano at kant.irmkant.rm.cnr.it
www:    http://kant.irmkant.rm.cnr.it/nolfi.html