Evolution of Robot-to-Robot Nurturing and Nurturability

Nurturing is the contribution of resources by one individual to the development of another individual with which it has an ongoing relationship. Nurturing behaviors comprise a fundamental class of actions that can occur between individuals. They are vital components of the behavioral repertoires of numerous biological organisms and are objects of study in numerous disciplines. Here we explore the evolution of nurturing between robots. Using variations of the light-switching experiment, we show that nurturing and nurturability can be evolved in a simple neural controller, that nurturing is more likely to evolve if a parent has greater capabilities than its offspring, and that nurturing is more likely to evolve between parents and offspring than between unrelated individuals.