The Triangle of Life: Evolving Robots in Real-time and Real-space

Abstract

Evolutionary robotics is heading towards fully embodied evolution in real-time and real-space. In this paper we introduce the Triangle of Life, a generic conceptual framework for such systems in which robots can actually reproduce. This framework can be instantiated with different hardware approaches and different reproduction mechanisms, but in all cases the system revolves around the conception of a new robot organism. The other components of the Triangle capture the principal stages of such a system; the Triangle as a whole serves as a guide for realizing this anticipated breakthrough and building systems where robot morphologies and controllers can evolve in real-time and real-space. After discussing this framework and the corresponding vision, we present a case study using the SYMBRION research project that realized some fragments of such a system in modular robot hardware.

Morphological Attractors in Darwinian and Lamarckian Evolutionary Robot Systems

“…The underlying system architecture that fully explores interactions between bodies, brains and environments is called the Triangle of Life and has been put forward in 2013 [11]. This system This life-cycle does not run from birth to death, but from conception (being conceived) to conception (conceiving one or more children) and it is repeated over and over again, thus creating consecutive generations of robot children.…”

HyperNEAT Versus RL PoWER for Online Gait Learning in Modular Robots

“…This stage starts when the morphogenesis of a new robot organism is completed and the 'baby robot' is delivered. As explained in [6], the body (morphological structure) and the mind (controller) of such a new organism will unlikely fit each other well. Therefore the new organism needs some fine tuning.This problem -the Control Your Own Body (CYOB) problem-is inherent to evolutionary ALife systems where both bodies and minds undergo changes during reproduction.…”

“…From the perspective of the multicellular robot bodies the basic robots are merely raw material whose physical properties do not change over time. 1 In [6] a conceptual framework for systems where robot morphologies and controllers can evolve in real-time and real-space is presented. This framework, dubbed the Triangle of Life, describes a life cycle that does not run from birth to death, but from conception (being conceived) to conception (conceiving one or more children) and it is repeated over and over again, thus creating consecutive generations of 'robot children'.…”

Online Gait Learning for Modular Robots with Arbitrary Shapes and Sizes

“…This stage starts when the morphogenesis of a new robot organism is completed and the 'baby robot' is delivered. As explained in [5], the body (morphological structure) and the mind (controller) of such a new organism will unlikely fit each other well. Even if the parents had well matching bodies and minds, recombination and mutation can easily result in a child where this is not the case.…”

“…Recently these ideas have been put on a more solid footing by presenting a conceptual framework for systems where robot morphologies and controllers can evolve in real-time and real-space [5]. This framework, dubbed the Triangle of Life, describes a life cycle that does not run from birth to death, but from conception (being conceived) to conception (conceiving one or more children) and it is repeated over and over again, thus creating consecutive generations of 'robot children'.…”