Evolutionary Techniques in Physical Robotics

Evolutionary and coevolutionary techniques have become a popular area of research for those interested in automated design. One of the cutting edge issues in this field is the ability to apply these techniques to real physical systems with all the complexities and affordances that such systems present. Here we present a selection of our work each of which advances the richness of the evolutionary substrate in one or more dimensions. We overview research in four areas: a) High part-count static structures that are buildable, b) The use of commercial CAD/CAM systems as a simulated substrate, c) Dynamic electromechanical systems with complex morphology that can be built automatically, and d) Evolutionary techniques distributed in a physical population of robots.

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