Generic Evolutionary Design

Abstract

Generic evolutionary design means the creation of arange of different designs by evolution. This paperintroduces generic evolutionary design by a computer,describing a system capable of the evolution of a widerange of solid object designs from scratch, using agenetic algorithm.The paper reviews relevant literature, and outlines anumber of advances necessitated by the development ofthe system, including: a new generic representation ofsolid objects, a new multiobjective fitness rankingmethod, and variable-length chromosomes. A library ofmodular evaluation software is also described, whichallows a user to define new design problems quickly andeasily by picking combinations of modules to guide theevolution of designs.Finally, the feasibility of generic evolutionary designby a computer is demonstrated by presenting thesuccessful evolution of both conventional andunconventional designs for a range of differentsolid-object design tasks, e.g. tables, heatsinks,prisms, boat hulls, aerodynamic cars.