Foraging for resources is a simple cognitive task that even one-celled biological organisms can ac- complish. We present an Artificial Life system in which artificial unicellular organisms (animats) forage for food in a 3-dimensional simulated liquid environment. The movement of animats is controlled by evolving artificial gene regulatory networks encoded in linear genomes. When an animat consumes enough food, it produces offspring with a genome into which mutations are introduced. We show that in such a system – in which reproduction with mutation is coupled with competition for limited re- sources – efficient foraging (chemotaxis) evolves. We hope that our system (once the environmental conditions are made more complex) will allow for the evolution of more complex cognitive abilities, and controllers with possible applications in swarm robotics and underwater robotics.
Authors
Additional information
- Category
- Aktywność konferencyjna
- Type
- publikacja w wydawnictwie zbiorowym recenzowanym (także w materiałach konferencyjnych)
- Language
- angielski
- Publication year
- 2013
