Abstract
In the most extensive robot evolution systems, both the bodies and the brains of the robots undergo evolution and the brains of 'infant' robots are also optimized by a learning process immediately after 'birth'. This paper is concerned with the brain evolution mechanism in such a system. In particular, we compare four options obtained by combining asexual or sexual brain reproduction with Darwinian or Lamarckian evolution mechanisms. We conduct experiments in simulation with a system of evolvable modular robots on two different tasks. The results show that sexual reproduction of the robots' brains is preferable in the Darwinian framework, but the effect is the opposite in the Lamarckian system (both using the same infant learning method). Our experiments suggest that the overall best option is asexual reproduction combined with the Lamarckian framework, as it obtains better robots in terms of fitness than the other three. Considering the evolved morphologies, the different brain reproduction methods do not lead to differences. This result indicates that the morphology of the robot is mainly determined by the task and the environment, not by the brain reproduction methods.
Abstract (translated)
在机器人进化系统中,机器人的身体和大脑都经历了进化,而婴儿机器人的大脑也在出生后通过一种学习过程得到优化。本文关注这种系统中的大脑进化机制。特别是,我们比较了通过结合无性或性脑繁殖与达尔文或拉马克进化机制的四个选项。我们通过模拟一种可进化模块机器人系统,在不同任务上进行了实验。实验结果表明,机器人大脑的性繁殖在达尔文框架中更为可取,但在拉马克框架中则相反(同时使用相同的婴儿学习方法)。我们的实验建议,整体最优的选择是无性繁殖与拉马克框架的组合,因为它在 fitness 方面获得比其他三个机器人更好的机器人。考虑到进化的形态,不同脑繁殖方法不会带来差异。这一结果表明,机器人的形态主要受到任务和环境的决定,而不是脑繁殖方法。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12594
