Organising bodyformation of modular autonomous robots using virtual embryogenesis

Abstract

In this paper the ability of Virtual Embryogenesis system (VE) to initiate and facilitate the build process of a multi-robot organism is presented. According to a single genome, which is spread in the whole organism, substances (morpho-genes) are diffused to all neighbouring robots within the organism and new modules are recruited to advance the building process. Different shapes can be built by this system using different, pre-evolved genomes. This ability to build a robotic modular organism is very stable and is not influenced by the environment the controlling genome has evolved in. The presented method is suggested to control modular robots in future applications in dynamic environments, e.g., in interaction with humans.