Social Facilitation on the Development of Foraging Behaviors in a Population of Autonomous Robots

In this paper we propose an adaptive algorithm based on a combination of selective reproduction, individual learning, and social learning. Social learning consists of a simple facilitation process that regulates the strength of individual learning on the basis of the number of individuals located nearby. By testing this model in an experimental scenario, in which a population of 10 mobile robots has to develop a simple foraging behavior, we demonstrate how the model proposed produces effective results. By comparing the results obtained in different experimental conditions we also show how the method proposed out-performs other alternative algorithms based on genetic evolution or individual learning. Finally, we briefly discuss how the model proposed can help us to understand the role of social learning in biological organisms.

[1]  P. Todd,et al.  Social learning and information sharing: an evolutionary simulation model of foraging in Norway rats , 1999 .

[2]  L. May,et al.  A Comparative Approach , 1987 .

[3]  Chrystopher L. Nehaniv,et al.  Imitation or Something Simpler? Modeling Simple Mechanisms for Social Information Processing , 2002 .

[4]  Lee Alan Dugatkin,et al.  CHAPTER 5 – Copying and Mate Choice , 1996 .

[5]  J. Stevenson.  The cultural origins of human cognition , 2001 .

[6]  K. Dautenhahn,et al.  Imitation in Animals and Artifacts , 2002 .

[7]  Jason Noble,et al.  An Evolutionary Simulation Model of Social Learning about Food by Norway Rats , 1999, ECAL.

[8]  M. Tomasello.  The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition , 2000 .

[9]  Wolfgang Banzhaf,et al.  Advances in Artificial Life , 2003, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[10]  Stefano Nolfi,et al.  Evolutionary Robotics: The Biology, Intelligence, and Technology of Self-Organizing Machines , 2000 .

[11]  E. Visalberghi,et al.  How Social Influences Affect Food Neophobia in Captive Chimpanzees: A Comparative Approach , 2006 .

[12]  Stefano Nolfi,et al.  Learning and Evolution , 1999, Auton. Robots.

[13]  Jeffrey L. Krichmar,et al.  Evolutionary robotics: The biology, intelligence, and technology of self-organizing machines , 2001, Complex..

[14]  Tetsuro Matsuzawa,et al.  Cognitive Development in Chimpanzees , 2021, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology.

[15]  Jason Noble,et al.  Imitation or something simpler? modeling simple mechanisms for social information processing , 2002 .

[16]  Martin H. Levinson.  Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution , 2006 .

[17]  C. Heyes,et al.  Social learning in animals : the roots of culture , 1996 .

[18]  Colin R. Reeves,et al.  Using Genetic Algorithms with Small Populations , 1993, ICGA.

[19]  S. Walker.  Social Learning: Psychological and Biological Perspectives, Thomas R. Zentall, Bennet G. Galef Jr. (Eds.). Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey (1988), xi , 1988 .

[20]  T. Belpraeme,et al.  Imitation and Social Learning in Robots, Humans and Animals: Behavioural, Social and Communicative Dimensions , 2006 .