CNR 2015: Lectures: Joel Lehman (USA): Creative Algorithms for Evolving Robots
He is co-author of the popular science book "Why Greatness Cannot be Planned: The Myth of the Objective," and is an inventor of the novelty search algorithm. Other research interests include neuroevolution, artificial life, and open-ended evolution.
Abstract:
One hallmark of natural evolution is its profound creativity,
illustrated by the incredible diversity of complex life on
Earth - ranging from bats to beetles to birch trees. If
computers could be similarly creative, it would be possible to
autonomously generate a diverse complexity of useful robots.
This talk describes creative evolutionary algorithms, inspired by natural evolution, that can be used to evolve simulated brains for robots. The main idea is to breed robots to behave in continuously novel ways, based on the insight that a new robot behavior may be the gateway to further novelty. This technique is demonstrated in a variety of domains, from wheeled robots navigating a maze, to teaching a biped robot how to walk, to evolving both the morphology and brain of locomoting 3D virtual creatures. Interestingly, breeding robots towards novelty often results in better-functioning robots than does directed breeding towards ever-increasing performance. The talk concludes with reflections about what this strange result seems to suggest about natural evolution and more broadly, about achieving ambitious objectives in general.
Link:
Joel
Lehman
[image source: Joel Lehman]
[source: Vive Les Robots!]
Cafe Neu Romance
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Joel Lehman is an assistant professor at the IT University in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He is co-author of the popular science
book "Why Greatness Cannot be Planned: The Myth of the Objective,"
and is an inventor of the novelty search algorithm.
Creative Algorithms for Evolving
Robots
Joel Lehman will present his lecture "Creative
Algorithms for Evolving Robots" at Cafe Neu Romance on the 28
November 2015 at NTK.
Galerie NTK
Technická 6
16080 Prague.