Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics

IEEE IEEE WCCI - CEC, Vancounver, Canada, 25-29 July 2016

Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics,
IEEE WCCI - CEC 2016

Tentative Program

Monday, July 25, 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM, Room: 203

4:30 PM	Sampling based Mission Planning for Multiple Robots [#16448] Rahul Kala Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad, India
4:50 PM	Multiobjective Topology and Weight Evolution of Neurocontrollers [#16724] Omer Abramovich and Amiram Moshaiov TelAviv University, Israel
5:10 PM	A novel efficient taskassign route planning method for AUV guidance in a dynamic cluttered environment [#16739] Somaiyeh MahmoudZadeh, David M. W. Powers and AmirMehdi Yazdani Flinders University, Australia
5:30 PM	NoiseResistant Particle Swarm Optimization for the Learning of Robust Obstacle Avoidance Controllers using a Depth Camera [#16411] Inaki Navarro, Ezequiel Di Mario and Alcherio Martinoli EPFL, Switzerland
5:50 PM	Effects of Model Parameter Interactions on Naive Creatures Success of Learning to Cross a Highway [#16707] Anna T. Lawniczak, Leslie Ly, Fei Yu and Shengkun Xie University of Guelph, Canada; Ryerson University, Canada
6:10 PM	An Empirical Study of the CoEvolution of Utility and Predictive Ability [#16307] Kevin Korb, Lachlan Brumley and Carlo Kopp Monash University, Australia

Description

Evolutionary Robotics (ER) aims to apply evolutionary computation techniques to automatically design the control and/or hardware of both real and simulated autonomous robots. Its origins date back to the beginning of the nineties and since then it has been attracting the interest of many research centers all over the world.

ER techniques are mostly inspired by existing biological architectures and Darwin’s principle of selective reproduction of the fittest. Evolution has revealed that living creatures are able to accomplish complex tasks required for their survival, thus embodying cooperative, competitive and adaptive behaviours.

Having an intrinsic interdisciplinary character, ER has been 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.

Keywords: evolutionary computation, autonomous robots, neural controllers, cognitive behaviour, evolutionary biology, co-evolution, collective behaviour, evolution of morphology.

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, evolutionary 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 2016 conference website: http://www.wcci2016.org/submission.php

When submitting, please select in the submission system the respective special session title under the list of Main research topic: 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.

Important Dates

Paper Submission: January 15, 2016 January 31, 2016
Notification of Acceptance: March 15, 2016
Camera-Ready Submission: April 15, 2016

Paper Publications

Papers accepted to this special session track will be published in the IEEE CEC proceedings.

Best Paper Prize

There will be a vote for best paper among those presented at this special session.
The authors of the winning paper will receive a copy of the book Horizons of Evolutionary Robotics.