research-article

Evolution of distributed neural controllers for voxel-based soft robots

Authors:

Alberto Bartoli,

Andrea De Lorenzo,

Giulio FidelAuthors Info & Claims

GECCO '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference

Pages 112 - 120

https://doi.org/10.1145/3377930.3390173

Published: 26 June 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Voxel-based soft robots (VSRs) are aggregations of elastic, cubic blocks that have sparkled the interest of Robotics and Artificial Life researchers. VSRs can move by varying the volume of individual blocks, according to control signals dictated by a controller, possibly based on inputs coming from sensors embedded in the blocks. Neural networks (NNs) have been used as centralized processing units for those sensing controllers, with weights optimized using evolutionary computation. This structuring breaks the intrinsic modularity of VSRs: decomposing a VSR into modules to be assembled in a different way is very hard.

In this work we propose an alternative approach that enables full modularity and is based on a distributed neural controller. Each block contains a small NN that outputs signals to adjacent blocks and controls the local volume, based on signals from adjacent blocks and on local sensor readings. We show experimentally for the locomotion task that our controller is as effective as the centralized one. Our experiments also suggest that the proposed framework indeed allows exploiting modularity: VSRs composed of pre-trained parts (body and controller) can be evolved more efficiently than starting from scratch.

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cover image ACM Conferences

GECCO '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference

June 2020

1349 pages

ISBN:9781450371285

DOI:10.1145/3377930

General Chair:
Carlos Artemio Coello Coello
CINVESTAV-IPN

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

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Published: 26 June 2020

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GECCO '20: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference

July 8 - 12, 2020

Cancún, Mexico

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638530.3664112
Mertan ACheney NLi XHandl J(2024)Towards Multi-Morphology Controllers with Diversity and Knowledge DistillationProceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference10.1145/3638529.3654013(367-376)Online publication date: 14-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638529.3654013
Medvet ENadizar G(2024)GP for Continuous Control: Teacher or Learner? The Case of Simulated Modular Soft RobotsGenetic Programming Theory and Practice XX10.1007/978-981-99-8413-8_11(203-224)Online publication date: 18-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8413-8_11
Mertan ACheney N(2024)Investigating Premature Convergence in Co-optimization of Morphology and Control in Evolved Virtual Soft RobotsGenetic Programming10.1007/978-3-031-56957-9_3(38-55)Online publication date: 3-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-56957-9_3
Pigozzi FMedvet EBartoli ARochelli M(2023)Factors Impacting Diversity and Effectiveness of Evolved Modular RobotsACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization10.1145/35871013:1(1-33)Online publication date: 5-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587101
Pigozzi FWoodman SMedvet EKramer-Bottiglio RBongard JSilva SPaquete L(2023)Morphology Choice Affects the Evolution of Affordance Detection in RobotsProceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference10.1145/3583131.3590505(211-219)Online publication date: 15-Jul-2023
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Nadizar GMedvet EWalker KRisi SSilva SPaquete L(2023)A Fully-distributed Shape-aware Neural Controller for Modular RobotsProceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference10.1145/3583131.3590419(184-192)Online publication date: 15-Jul-2023
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Mertan ACheney NSilva SPaquete L(2023)Modular Controllers Facilitate the Co-Optimization of Morphology and Control in Soft RobotsProceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference10.1145/3583131.3590416(174-183)Online publication date: 15-Jul-2023
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Legrand JTerryn SRoels EVanderborght B(2023)Reconfigurable, Multi-Material, Voxel-Based Soft RobotsIEEE Robotics and Automation Letters10.1109/LRA.2023.32368838:3(1255-1262)Online publication date: Mar-2023
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