Incremental evolution with learning to develop the control system of autonomous robots for complex task

Abstract

Incremental evolution with learning (IEWL) is proposed for the development of autonomous robots, and the validity of the method is evaluated with a real mobile robot to acquire a complex task. Development of the control system for a complex task, i.e., approaching toward a target object by avoiding obstacles in an environment, is incrementally carried out in two-stage. In the first-stage, controllers are developed to avoid obstacles in the environment. By using acquired knowledge of the first-stage, controllers are developed in the second-stage to approach toward the target object by avoiding obstacles in the environment. It is found that the use of learning in conjunction with incremental evolution is beneficial for maintaining diversity in the evolving population. The performances of two controllers, one developed by IEWL and the other developed by incremental evolution without learning (IENL), are compared on the given task. The experimental results show that robust performance is achieved when controllers are developed by IEWL.