paper available:Evolving non-trivial behaviors on real robots..

[Stefano Nolfi]

Paper available via WWW / FTP: 

Keywords: Evolutionary Robotics, Behavior Based Robotics, Adaptive Behaviors, 
          Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms.
                  
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              EVOLVING NON-TRIVIAL BEHAVIORS ON REAL ROBOTS:
                        A GARBAGE COLLECTING ROBOT 

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

Recently,  a  new approach involving  a form of simulated evolution has  been 
proposed to build autonomous robots.  However, it is still not clear  if this 
approach  is  adequate  for  real  life problems.  In this paper we  show how 
control  systems  that  perform  a  non-trivial sequence  of behaviors can be 
obtained  with  this  methodology by "canalizing" the evolutionary process in 
the right direction. In the experiment described in the paper, a mobile robot 
was  successfully  trained  to  keep  clear  an  arena surrounded by walls by 
locating, recognizing, and grasping "garbage" objects and by taking collected 
objects  outside  the  arena. The  controller  of  the  robot  was evolved in 
simulation  and  then  downloaded  and tested on the real robot. We also show 
that  while  a  given  amount  of  supervision  may canalize the evolutionary 
process  in  the  right direction the addition of unnecessary constraints can 
delay the evolution of the desired behavior.


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