Hardware Design for Autonomous Robot Evolution

Matthew F. Hale; Mike Angus; Edgar Buchanan; Wei Li; Robert Woolley; Leni K.Le Goff; Matteo De Carlo; Jon Timmis; Alan F. Winfield; Emma Hart; Agoston E. Eiben; Andy M. Tyrrell

doi:10.1109/SSCI47803.2020.9308204

Hardware Design for Autonomous Robot Evolution

Matthew F. Hale, Mike Angus, Edgar Buchanan, Wei Li, Robert Woolley, Leni K.Le Goff, Matteo De Carlo, Jon Timmis, Alan F. Winfield, Emma Hart, Agoston E. Eiben, Andy M. Tyrrell

Department of Computer Science

University of the West of England

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Proceeding (Non-Journal item)

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The long term goal of the Autonomous Robot Evolution (ARE) project is to create populations of physical robots, in which both the controllers and body plans are evolved. The transition of evolutionary designs from purely simulation environments into the real world creates the possibility for new types of system able to adapt to unknown and changing environments. In this paper, a system for creating robots is introduced in order to allow for their body plans to be designed algorithmically and physically instantiated using the previously introduced Robot Fabricator. This system consists of two types of components. Firstly, skeleton parts are created bespoke for each design by 3D printing, allowing the overall shape of the robot to include almost infinite variety. To allow for the shortcomings of 3D printing, the second type of component are organs which contain components such as motors and sensors, and can be attached to the skeleton to provide particular functions. Specific organ designs are presented, with discussion of the design challenges for evolutionary robotics in hardware. The Robot Fabricator is extended to allow for robots with joints, and some example body plans shown to demonstrate the diversity possible using this system of robot generation.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020
Publisher	IEEE Press
Pages	2140-2147
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781728125473
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SSCI47803.2020.9308204
Publication status	Published - 01 Dec 2020
Event	2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020 - Virtual, Canberra, Australia Duration: 01 Dec 2020 → 04 Dec 2020

Publication series

Name	2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020

Conference

Conference	2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Virtual, Canberra
Period	01 Dec 2020 → 04 Dec 2020

Keywords

evolution in hardware
evolutionary robotics

Access to Document

10.1109/SSCI47803.2020.9308204

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Hale, M. F., Angus, M., Buchanan, E., Li, W., Woolley, R., Goff, L. K. L., Carlo, M. D., Timmis, J., Winfield, A. F., Hart, E., Eiben, A. E., & Tyrrell, A. M. (2020). Hardware Design for Autonomous Robot Evolution. In 2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020 (pp. 2140-2147). Article 9308204 (2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020). IEEE Press. https://doi.org/10.1109/SSCI47803.2020.9308204

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year = "2020",

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doi = "10.1109/SSCI47803.2020.9308204",

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Hale, MF, Angus, M, Buchanan, E, Li, W, Woolley, R, Goff, LKL, Carlo, MD, Timmis, J, Winfield, AF, Hart, E, Eiben, AE & Tyrrell, AM 2020, Hardware Design for Autonomous Robot Evolution. in 2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020., 9308204, 2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020, IEEE Press, pp. 2140-2147, 2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020, Virtual, Canberra, Australia, 01 Dec 2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/SSCI47803.2020.9308204

Hardware Design for Autonomous Robot Evolution. / Hale, Matthew F.; Angus, Mike; Buchanan, Edgar et al.
2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020. IEEE Press, 2020. p. 2140-2147 9308204 (2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, SSCI 2020).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Proceeding (Non-Journal item)

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Hardware Design for Autonomous Robot Evolution

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Keywords

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