title: Comparison of different genotype encodings for simulated three-dimensional agents.
abstract: We analyze the effect of different genetic encodings used for evolving three-dimensional agents with physical morphologies. The complex phenotypes used in such systems often require nontrivial encodings. Different encodings used in Framsticks--a system for evolving three-dimensional agents--are presented. These include a low-level direct mapping and two higher-level encodings: one recurrent and one developmental. Quantitative results are presented from three simple optimization tasks (passive height, active height, and locomotion speed). The low-level encoding produced solutions of lower fitness than the two higher-level encodings under similar conditions. Results from recurrent and developmental encodings had similar fitness values but displayed qualitative differences. Desirable advantages and some drawbacks of more complex encodings are established.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 3A, 60-965 Poznan, Poland. maciej.komosinski@cs.put.poznan.pl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komosiński
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rotaru-Varga
mesh_terms: D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological