Darwin + Robots = Evolutionary Robotics: Challenges in Automatic Robot Synthesis

Abstract

This paper reviews the use of artificial evolution as a means for automatic generation of locomotion controllers for physical robots and autonomous agents from the perspectives of evolutionary objectives and control architecture. An overview beginning with the pioneering works in evolutionary robotics is given, leading up to the latest state-of-the-art research in these fields. Some key shortfalls in mainstream approaches are identified, concluding with some promising research directions.