Towards a Unified Framework for Software-Hardware Integration in Evolutionary Robotics

The discrepancy between simulated and hardware experiments, the reality gap, is a challenge in evolutionary robotics. While strategies have been proposed to address this gap in fixed-body robots, they are not viable when dealing with populations and generations where the body is in constant change....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Robotics (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 157
Main Authors: Buchanan, Edgar, Le Goff, Léni, Hale, Matthew, Hart, Emma, Eiben, Agoston, De Carlo, Matteo, Angus, Mike, Woolley, Robert, Timmis, Jon, Winfield, Alan, Tyrrell, Andy
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2024
Subjects:
Analysis
Automation
Continuous production
Design and construction
Evolution
evolution of things
evolutionary robotics
Experiments
Feedback
Friction
Hardware
Industrial robots
Manufacturing
Mechanization
Morphology
reality gap
Robotics
Robots
Simulation
software-hardware synergy
United Kingdom
ISSN:2218-6581, 2218-6581
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The discrepancy between simulated and hardware experiments, the reality gap, is a challenge in evolutionary robotics. While strategies have been proposed to address this gap in fixed-body robots, they are not viable when dealing with populations and generations where the body is in constant change. The continual evolution of body designs necessitates the manufacturing of new robotic structures, a process that can be time-consuming if carried out manually. Moreover, the increased manufacturing time not only prolongs hardware experimental durations but also disrupts the synergy between hardware and simulated experiments. Failure to effectively manage these challenges could impede the implementation of evolutionary robotics in real-life environments. The Autonomous Robot Evolution project presents a framework to tackle these challenges through a case study. This paper describes the main three contributions of this work: Firstly, it analyses the different reality gap experienced by each different robot or the heterogenous reality gap. Secondly, it emphasizes the importance of automation in robot manufacturing. And thirdly, it highlights the necessity of a framework to orchestrate the synergy between simulated and hardware experiments. In the long term, integrating these contributions into evolutionary robotics is envisioned to enable the continuous production of robots in real-world environments.
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ISSN:2218-6581
2218-6581
DOI:10.3390/robotics13110157