Evolutionary Humanoid Robotics

verfasst von: Malachy Eaton

Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Buchreihe : SpringerBriefs in Intelligent Systems

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book examines how two distinct strands of research on autonomous robots, evolutionary robotics and humanoid robot research, are converging. The book will be valuable for researchers and postgraduate students working in the areas of evolutionary robotics and bio-inspired computing.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

In this text we look to the past to two distinct strands of research into autonomous robots, evolutionary robotics and humanoid robot research, and how these strands are now beginning to converge in the novel field of evolutionary humanoid robotics. We investigate some of the current and emerging work in this new and exciting field. We address briefly some of the motivations. Why evolve robot bodies or brains, rather than go through a rigorous design process? And why should we have a particular interest in the creation of specifically humanoid robots, rather than, say, wheeled robots, or four-legged (quadrupedal) designs?

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 2. Evolutionary Algorithms and the Control of Systems

Abstract

Control of systems may reasonably be viewed as a branch of cybernetics as defined by Wiener: the “science of control and communication in the animal and the machine”. One of its central subjects is that of control, and particularly feedback control of autonomous robots which is one of our core areas of concern. Indeed, when Wiener gave the new discipline of Cybernetics a name in 1948 he made use of the Greek word for steersman, κυβερνήτης; he arrived at this term through the etymology of the word “governor”, a popular term used for the first widely used feedback device (Wiener 1948). Feedback control then is a topic of central importance in our understanding of biological and mechanical systems and in the design of robots and other machinery for the manipulation of our environment.

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 3. Evolutionary Robotics (ER)

Abstract

Evolutionary robotics (ER) involves the application of evolutionary techniques to the generation of either the “brain” (control systems) or to the “body” (morphology) of autonomous robots, or perhaps both. From a locomotive perspective, much research in the early days of research in the ER field (early and mid-1990s) involved the use of wheeled robots, in particular the ubiquitous Khephera robot.

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 4. Humanoid Robots, Their Simulators, and the Reality Gap

Abstract

The field of humanoid robotics is concerned with the creation of robots which are broadly humanlike in their behaviour, their morphology, or both. The definition of what constitutes a humanoid robot is quite broad in the literature, so in this chapter we suggest our own abbreviated taxonomy. The idea of the creation of a being in mankind’s own image harks back into the realms of prehistory, one could even say back to the Genesis creation narrative, where a new creature named woman “because she was taken out of Man” was created from the rib of Adam.

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 5. Evolutionary Humanoid Robotics (EHR)

Abstract

Evolutionary humanoid robotics (EHR) involves using a process of artificial evolution to develop some or all of the body and/or brain of a humanoid robot.

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 6. The State of the Art in EHR

Abstract

It is now over half a decade since my initial short survey of the EHR field entitled “Evolutionary Humanoid Robotics—Past, Present and Future” was published in the book 50 Years of Artificial Intelligence: Essays Dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of Artificial Intelligence (Lungarella et al. 2007). As its name suggests, this was a publication designed to mark the 50th anniversary of the formal inception of the field of artificial intelligence as a separate research domain, with its own distinct attributes; although there are those who would argue that over half a decade earlier the British scientist Alan Turing was the main protagonist and instigator of this field.

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 7. Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking of Humanoid Robots

Abstract

In the evolutionary robotics field, or indeed in the general sphere of research into producing autonomous agents for real-world applications, it is desirable (if not essential) to have a situation where we can build on previous results in order to build/evolve artefacts of ever increasing utility.

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 8. Ethical, Philosophical and Moral Considerations

Abstract

It may seem a little strange in a book on advanced robotics and control systems to have a section on such “soft” issues as ethics, philosophy, and morality. I would, however, make the contrary argument: might it be strange not to discuss, at least in outline, the potential ramifications for human society of the creation, by an evolutionary process, of mechanical creatures in our own likeness whose workings may not (and may never) be fully understood, a fact which some of the earliest researchers in this field readily acknowledged (de Garis 1990a; Sims 1994a).

Malachy Eaton

Chapter 9. Conclusions, and Looking to the Future

Abstract

In this book we have seen the application of evolutionary techniques to the design of both the “body” and the “brain” of humanoid robots, from simple stick-leg simulations in the early 1990s to current applications involving the implementation of increasingly complex behaviours on real humanoid robots with many degrees of freedom. It is probably fair to say that this is only the beginning of the story.

Malachy Eaton

Backmatter

Titel: Evolutionary Humanoid Robotics
verfasst von: Malachy Eaton
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-662-44599-0
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-44598-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44599-0