Genetic evolution of hierarchical behavior structures

The development of coherent and dynamic behaviors for mobile robots is an exceedingly complex endeavor ruled by task objectives, environmental dynamics and the interactions within the behavior structure. This paper discusses the use of genetic programming techniques and the unified behavior framework to develop effective control hierarchies using interchangeable behaviors and arbitration components. Given the number of possible variations provided by the framework, evolutionary programming is used to evolve the overall behavior design. Competitive evolution of the behavior population incrementally develops feasible solutions for the domain through competitive ranking. By developing and implementing many simple behaviors independently and then evolving a complex behavior structure suited to the domain, this approach allows for the reuse of elemental behaviors and eases the complexity of development for a given domain. Additionally, this approach has the ability to locate a behavior str...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: GECCO
• Authors: Brian G. Woolley, Gilbert L. Peterson
• Keywords: Behavior, Behavior Structure, GECCO 2007, Optimization, Unified Behavior Framework