Embedding a distributed evolutionary system into a population of autonomous mobile robots

This paper describes a fully embedded distributed evolutionary system that is able to achieve collision-free navigation in a few hundreds of trials. It reports the first experimental proof of the embedded evolution concept applied to the evolution of morphology and an unstructured control circuit of a population of six real robots in real time. Evolution selects the appropriate sensor configuration and speed levels that the robots should incorporate to perform specific tasks. The results show the influence of different mutation rates in the performance of the system. This work produced a genetic system where the population exists in a real environment.