Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics, IEEE CEC 2012

Evolutionary Robotics (ER) aims to apply evolutionary computation techniques, inspired by Darwin’s principle of selective reproduction of the fittest, to automatically design the control and/or hardware of both real and simulated autonomous robots.
Having an intrinsic interdisciplinary character, ER is being employed towards the development of many fields of research, among which we can highlight neuroscience, cognitive science, evolutionary biology and robotics. Hence the objective of this special session is to assemble a set of high-quality original contributions that reflect and advance the state-of-the-art in the area of Evolutionary Robotics, with an emphasis on the cross-fertilization between ER and the aforementioned research areas, ranging from theoretical analysis to real-life applications.

Topics of interest include (but are not restricted to):

• Evolution of robots which display minimal cognitive behaviour, learning, memory, spatial cognition, adaptation or homeostasis.
• Evolution of neural controllers for robots, aimed at giving an insight to neuroscientists, evolutionaryt biologists or advancing control structures.
• Evolution of communication, cooperation and competition, using robots as a research platform.
• Co-evolution and the evolution of collective behaviour.
• Evolution of morphology in close interaction with the environment, giving rise to self-reconfigurable, self-designing, self-healing, self-reproducing, humanoid and walking robots.
• Evolution of robot systems aimed at real-world applications as in aerial robotics, space exploration, industry, search and rescue, robot companions, entertainment and games.
• Evolution of controllers on board real robots or the real-time evolution of robot hardware.
• Novel or improved algorithms for the evolution of robot systems.
• The use of evolution for the artistic exploration of robot design.

Paper Submission

Submissions should follow the guidance given on the IEEE CEC 2012 conference website.
When submitting, please select:

1. Submission to IEEE-CEC 2012
2. Main research topic: Special Session on "Evolutionary Robotics" (S23 - Evolutionary Robotics).

All submissions will be peer-reviewed with the same criteria used for other contributed papers. All accepted papers will be included and published in the conference proceedings.

Post Conference publications

Authors of best papers will be asked to contribute to a journal special issue on the topic of "Evolutionary Robotics".

Important Dates

Paper Submission: December 19, 2011
Paper Submission: Deadline Extended! January 18, 2012
Notification of Acceptance: February 20, 2012
Camera-Ready Submission: April 02, 2012

Session Programme

Coming soon

Poster Sessions

Coming soon

Programme Commitee

Past Special Sessions

• Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics, CEC 2010
• Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics, CEC 2009

General Chairs

Patricia A. Vargas Heriot-Watt University

Dario Floreano EPFL

Phil Husbands University of Sussex

Publicity and Programme Chairs

Andrea Maesani EPFL

Renan Moioli University of Sussex