Helping robots evolve

Scientists help robots ‘evolve’. Weirdness ensues

By Matt Simons, WIRED, 22-10-2018

Evolution is incredibly powerful, and it’s a kind of power that roboticists are now looking to for inspiration. New proof-of-concept research from our scientists explores how evolutionary algorithms can design robot legs tailored to walk on specific surfaces. The results are at once logical, counter intuitive, and bizarre—and could hint at a novel way for roboticists to engineer walking machines.

[…] if evolution is good at making anything, it’s surprises. “What evolution does is it searches a much wider design space,” says Howard. “It doesn’t care what the thing that it’s making looks like. It might look like something completely counter intuitive to what a human engineer would come up with.”

“But if it works,” he says, “that’s the only thing that matters.”

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