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Design, Architecture, and Engineering with Grammatical Evolution

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Abstract

Since its inception, Grammatical Evolution has had a rich history with design applications. The use of a formal grammar provides a convenient platform with which users can specify rules for design. Two main aspects of design evolution are the grammatical representation and the objective fitness evaluation.

The field of design representation has many strands, each with its own strengths and weaknesses for particular applications. An overview is given of four popular grammatical representations for design: Lindenmayer Systems, Shape Grammars, Higher Order Functions, and Graph Grammars, with examples of each.

The field of design is dominated by two often conflicting objectives: form and function. The disparity between the two is discussed: Interactive Evolutionary Design is examined in its capacity to provide a truly subjective fitness function for aesthetic form, while engineering applications of GE provide a basis for objective mathematically-based fitness evaluations. Finally, these two techniques can be combined to allow the designer to decide exactly how balance the optimisation and exploration of the process.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that a single objective can be used when engineering constraints are implemented, as detailed in Sect. 3.2.1.

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Acknowledgements

This research is based upon works supported by Science Foundation Ireland under grant 13/IA/1850.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Data Science and Machine Learning Group, Corvil Ltd, Dublin, Ireland

    Michael Fenton

  2. Computer Vision Research Group, Intel Ltd, Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland

    Jonathan Byrne

  3. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), MIT, Boston, MA, USA

    Erik Hemberg

Authors
  1. Michael Fenton
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  2. Jonathan Byrne
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  3. Erik Hemberg
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick, Castletroy, Limerick, Ireland

    Conor Ryan

  2. School of Business, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Michael O'Neill

  3. Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick, Castletroy, Limerick, Ireland

    JJ Collins

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Fenton, M., Byrne, J., Hemberg, E. (2018). Design, Architecture, and Engineering with Grammatical Evolution. In: Ryan, C., O'Neill, M., Collins, J. (eds) Handbook of Grammatical Evolution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78717-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78717-6_13

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