Out of Time: On the Constrains that Evolution in Hardware Faces When Evolving Modular Robots

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    Abstract

    With the recent advances of modular robots and low-cost manipulators, the evolution of robots, including morphologies and controllers, has become possible to perform in a physical setup without using any simulators. In this scenario, the evolution cannot be parallelized and the wall time becomes a scarce resource that should be used wisely. This paper analyses different algorithms by using the wall time as a stopping criterion for evolution, and it takes into account that wall time depends on the evaluation time plus the time to assemble and disassemble robots before and after an evaluation. The experiments have been performed in simulation, but the evaluation and assembly time have been carefully modelled from previous hardware experiments. Results suggest that (i) genetic algorithms are severely penalized, (ii) genetic algorithms can be improved by performing several evaluations of controllers for each morphology, and that (iii) evolutionary strategies that can chain several evaluations of robots with close morphologies can outperform other evolutionary algorithms. This finding is not surprising, but to the best of our knowledge previous attempts to evolve modular robots in hardware have not employed evolutionary strategies.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationApplications of Evolutionary Computation : 25th European Conference, EvoApplications 2022, Held as Part of EvoStar 2022, Madrid, Spain, April 20–22, 2022, Proceedings
    EditorsJuan Luis Jimenez Laredo, J. Ignacio Hidalgo, Kehinde Oluwatoyin Babaagba
    Number of pages16
    PublisherSpringer, Cham
    Publication date15 Apr 2022
    ISBN (Print)978-3-031-02461-0
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-031-02462-7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Apr 2022
    Event25th European Conference, EvoApplications 2022: Held as Part of EvoStar 2022 - Madrid, Madrid, Spain
    Duration: 20 Apr 202222 Apr 2022
    Conference number: 25
    https://www.evostar.org/2022/

    Conference

    Conference25th European Conference, EvoApplications 2022
    Number25
    LocationMadrid
    Country/TerritorySpain
    CityMadrid
    Period20/04/202222/04/2022
    Internet address
    SeriesLecture notes in computer science
    Volume13224
    ISSN0302-9743

    Keywords

    • Modular robots
    • Evolutionary robotics
    • Morphological evolution
    • Evolution in hardware

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