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JRM Vol.35 No.4 pp. 988-996
doi: 10.20965/jrm.2023.p0988
(2023)

Paper:

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When Less Is More in Embodied Evolution: Robotic Swarms Have Better Evolvability with Constrained Communication

Motoaki Hiraga* ORCID Icon, Daichi Morimoto**, Yoshiaki Katada*** ORCID Icon, and Kazuhiro Ohkura** ORCID Icon

*Kyoto Institute of Technology
Goshokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan

**Hiroshima University
1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan

***Setsunan University
17-8 Ikedanaka-machi, Neyagawa, Osaka 572-8508, Japan

Received:
January 23, 2023
Accepted:
May 12, 2023
Published:
August 20, 2023
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
embodied evolution, swarm robotics, evolutionary robotics, collective adaptive systems
Abstract

Embodied evolution is an evolutionary robotics approach that implements an evolutionary algorithm over a population of robots and evolves while the robots perform their tasks. In embodied evolution, robots send and receive genomes from their neighbors and generate an offspring genome from the exchanged genomes. This study focused on the effects of the communication range for exchanging genomes on the evolvability of embodied evolution. Experiments were conducted using computer simulations, where robot controllers were evolved during a two-target navigation task. The results of the experiments showed that the robotic swarm could achieve better performance by reducing the communication range for exchanging genomes.

Robot trajectories using evolved controllers

Robot trajectories using evolved controllers

Cite this article as:
M. Hiraga, D. Morimoto, Y. Katada, and K. Ohkura, “When Less Is More in Embodied Evolution: Robotic Swarms Have Better Evolvability with Constrained Communication,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.35 No.4, pp. 988-996, 2023.
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Last updated on Mar. 18, 2025