Automatic Design of Adaptive Systems using Unconstrained Evolution and Development on the POEtic Platform

目前尚不清楚，如何使用传统技术来稳健地设计未来的、可能是当前的系统。例如，失踪的Beagle 2号火星探测器表明，设计能够应对不可预见的情况的系统仍然非常困难。发展是大自然对这一复杂危机的回答，因此是一条重要的、可能有用的研究途径。此外，如果我们要处理在复杂的动态环境中运行的系统，其中环境对系统的运行和结构有重大影响，那么发展似乎是唯一现实的前进道路。发展方法还赋予生物系统强大的特性，使其能够适应不断变化的环境(例如环境)，并使它们能够容错。这些都是我们希望在我们的工程系统中看到的功能。不受约束的演化与开发相结合将被证明是未来系统设计和实现的强大技术。最近的工作表明，发展性设计即使在最初的规范中没有被要求时，也可以具有很大程度的自我修复能力。该项目将使用不受约束的进化和发展来自动设计能够执行自主任务的硬件。对该系统的评估将把复杂性作为一个主要考虑因素，特别是将研究其缩放特性。其工程成果将是适应未来技术的适应性强、高效、容错的系统。其科学成果将是以一种以前未知的方式工作的人工进化的数据，从而有助于对生物生命的起源和人工生命的创造进行基础研究。

It is unclear how certain future, and probably current, systems can be robustly designed using traditional techniques. For example, the lost Beagle 2 Mars probe illustrated that it is still very difficult to design systems able to cope with unforeseen circumstances. Development is nature's answer to this complexity crisis and is therefore an important and potentially useful avenue of study. In addition, if we are to deal with systems operating in complex dynamical environments, where the environment has significant effects on the operation and structure of the system, development appears the only realistic way forward. Developmental methods also give strong characteristics that enable biological systems to be adaptable to changing circumstances (environment for example) and enable them to be fault-tolerant. These are features we would like to see in our engineered systems. Unconstrained evolution combined with development will prove to be a powerful technique for future system design and implementation. Very recent work has shown that developmental designs can possess a large degree of self-repair even when it wasn't demanded in the initial specification . This project will use unconstrained evolution and development to automatically design hardware capable of autonomous tasks. The system will be evaluated with complexity as a major consideration and in particular, a study of its scaling properties will be made. The engineering outcome of this will be adaptable, efficient, fault-tolerant systems suitable for future technology. The scientific outcome of this will be data on artificial evolution working in a previously unknown manner, thus helping fundamental research into the origin of biological life and the creation of artificial life.