Morphid Academy: A virtual laboratory for evolution of form and function.

摘要

Physical forms are a vital part of our daily lives and can be seen all around us. Some forms are static, others move around, but all have a certain desired function. Forms and their associated functions are normally created by human hands or using various human-made machinery and manufacturing processes. Some complex forms, such as living organisms, have been created through complex evolutionary forces. It is those forces that are of interest in improving the human-made forms.;This thesis tackles the problem of evolution of physically simulated forms and their associated functions. In order to harness the power of natural evolution, the forces behind it have to be understood and controlled. Evolution is not very practical to study in nature due to its very long time scale. It can, however, be studied in computer simulations using models of form and function.;We have created Morphid Academy (MA) - a virtual laboratory for the study of evolution for physical forms and their functions. This evolutionary framework allows for the generation, simulation, evolution, and visualization of various models of forms. The aspect of form and its function is encapsulated into a physically simulated agent called a Morphid. The MA studies Morphid evolution through an experimental framework composed of structured simulation entities called Training Grounds. A special Morphocosm Training Ground is an ecosystem of interacting Morphids.;To demonstrate the Morphid Academy on a concrete example, we have implemented a virtual creature model of a Morphid. The virtual creature Morphid model, composed of a morphology and neural controller, allowed us to use MA in order to evolve virtual creatures in the training tasks of locomotion and light following. To showcase MA functionality, complex experimental topologies were designed to study incremental evolution, neural network evolution, and adaptation to environmental perturbations.