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Evolving Lego Mindstorms

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the theory-of-revolution dept.

John Conner writes "With a fairly simple routine, you can model evolution with Lego Mindstorms. In this hackaday experiment, robots were created that could mate, evolve, and become extinct. Similar technology could be used in real applications for deployed robot optimization and automatic software updates. Now that physical robot replication is near, it's only a matter of time before... well... You'd better make robot friends while you can."

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm. by shoebert · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Evolution of code is pretty cool, but it could be improved upon with a few motors that actually build little Lego figures. I for one welcome our etc.

  2. Its closer than you think by zappepcs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can't find link to the thread now, but there are several Lego groups already talking of making LEGO robots that build Lego 'things' and it would only be a few more steps to get Lego robots to build parts for other Lego robots, and other Lego robots to assemble the parts. I'm pretty certain that its a probable event in the near future, given the 'coolness factor' of having built the first 'plastic' skynet :-)

    Is it just me, or have other people noticed how the 'replicators' on SG1 look a lot like 'evolved' Lego robots?

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  3. Neat by merlin_jim · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was SOOOO hoping the lego bots would rebuild themselves each generation.

    Actually, I really like this guy's idea. I wonder if there's a way to build a commodity bot to implement the idea...

    Something like this

    If I were to list the design criteria it would be:

    cheap programmable controller (like one of those $3 PICs or something)
    commodity IR gear
    two-motor steering
    bump sensors
    changeable actuator
    simple charging

    The actuator would be things like a pincer on the front (to pick things up), or a crane, or a pronged fork. Doesn't matter. Point is to differentiate the population to give natural selection a chance to do its thing.

    The charger, I would probably make the wheels metal and make charging areas such that any orientation the bot goes over the area will result in a charge. Use mini supercaps for energy storage.

    I even have a perfect platform in mind;

    zipzaps.

    Give me a zipzap chassis with a few modifications (like ripping out the radio gear and replacing it with a PIC)

    Ideally I'd like to get the build cost under $10. Then you could afford to run a real population. Anything that doesn't get back to the sensor pad gets killed from the genome and recharged. If two bots are in the charge area and agree to reproduce, they both send their genomes to the wiped bot who does his combinatorial magic on it.

    I'd be interested to see what sort of emergent behaviours might occur...

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  4. Evolving embodied agents with Genetic Algorithms by gururise · · Score: 5, Interesting
    If you find the article interesting, you may want to take a look at some of the Reasearch I did for my Master's thesis. I created a virtual population of Embodied Agents that compete for resources (ala. survival of the fittest). My implementation of the Genetic Algorithm has a fitness selection routine that would optimize for the individuals with the best methods of locomotion.

    It is amazing to observe the progress of evolution. Initially, the agents act as though they don't know what they are doing, their movements being very laboured and imprecise. As the population continues to evolve, individuals from the later generations begin to increasingly show signs of intelligent improvements. Such as being able to coordinate and time their movements to afford them better walking/running behaviors. What is really surprising is that as I allowed the population to continue to evolve, I saw behaviors that I could never have predicted. Some of the agents began to do "tricks" and evolved some strange jumping or sommersalting behaviors, not unlike that of a gymnast.

    If you get a chance, check out my thesis. It is freely available (with GPL'd source code) at: http://www.erachampion.com/ai

  5. Cool robotic movement work by dglo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Karl Sims did some fantastic work on evolving movement a decade ago. Creatures were randomly assembled using blocks and a few standard connectors, and eventually evolved a wide variety of strategies for motion. My favorties were the 3-block creature which moved like an ape and the 2-block creature which moved in the same way a washing machine walks.