July 02, 2007
Spinal Rhythms:
Autonomous Embodied Evolution of a Biomimetic Robot's Rhythmic Motion Behavior
ABSTRACT: "The robotic art work Spinal Rhythms investigates the qualities and dynamics of physical movement performed by inanimate shapes. To avoid mimesis the robot’s body is a primitive abstraction, a connected system of bare wooden limbs linked by joints. The spotlight lies on the action that brings this inorganic shapes to life - the motion. Actuated by elastic shape memory alloy springs the robot performs slow and noiseless movements that differ from robotics’ typical electrical motor characteristics. The movements are the subject of an embodied evolutionary computation process that controls the robotic performance. By repetitive mutation and evaluation the system evolves the actuation signals for the robotic muscles and makes the robot find temporal solutions for the sensitive dynamics between software, hardware and environment. The fault-prone hardware-body of the robot and changing environmental conditions create an unstable fitness landscape that demands continuous adaptation of the activation patterns. The evaluation process uses image analysis to grade the performance of motion patterns according to a fixed set of fitness functions and attempts to find activation patterns that produce more movement while consuming less energy. Trained in an autonomous loop without human supervision the robot is granted a certain awareness of its own body.
The art work presents a solution on how to bridge the gap between digital and robotic artificial life art. It introduces the shaping power of evolutionary systems – widely employed in digital artificial life – into a real-world setup full of complex dynamics and unpredictable conditions. The crucial differences between digital and analog worlds – constituted in the messiness and unpredictability of real life – are emphasized instead of being inhibited. The exhibition setup which shows one machine intelligence training another machine intelligence serves as an allegory on the future superiority of artificial intelligence that will advance without human help." From Spinal Rhythms: Autonomous Embodied Evolution of a Biomimetic Robot's Rhythmic Motion Behavior by EVA SCHINDLING. [PDF] Project website >>.
Posted by jo at July 2, 2007 01:49 PM
