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Evolutionary Networks for Multi-Behavioural Robot Control : A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
Artificial Intelligence can be applied to a wide variety of real world problems, with
varying levels of complexity; nonetheless, real world problems often demand for
capabilities that are difficult, if not impossible to achieve using a single Artificial
Intelligence algorithm. This challenge gave rise to the development of hybrid systems
that put together a combination of complementary algorithms. Hybrid approaches
come at a cost however, as they introduce additional complications for the developer,
such as how the algorithms should interact and when the independent algorithms
should be executed. This research introduces a new algorithm called Cascading
Genetic Network Programming (CGNP), which contains significant changes to the
original Genetic Network Programming. This new algorithm has the facility to
include any Artificial Intelligence algorithm into its directed graph network, as either
a judgement or processing node. CGNP introduces a novel ability for a scalable
multiple layer network, of independent instances of the CGNP algorithm itself. This
facilitates problem subdivision, independent optimisation of these underlying layers
and the ability to develop varying levels of complexity, from individual motor control
to high level dynamic role allocation systems. Mechanisms are incorporated to
prevent the child networks from executing beyond their requirement, allowing the
parent to maintain control. The ability to optimise any data within each node
is added, allowing for general purpose node development and therefore allowing
node reuse in a wide variety of applications without modification. The abilities
of the Cascaded Genetic Network Programming algorithm are demonstrated and
proved through the development of a multi-behavioural robot soccer goal keeper, as
a testbed where an individual Artificial Intelligence system may not be sufficient.
The overall role is subdivided into three components and individually optimised
which allow the robot to pursue a target object or location, rotate towards a target
and provide basic functionality for defending a goal. These three components are
then used in a higher level network as independent nodes, to solve the overall multi-
behavioural goal keeper. Experiments show that the resulting controller defends the
goal with a success rate of 91%, after 12 hours training using a population of 400
and 60 generations.