Evolving Hebbian learning rules in voxel-based soft robots

A Ferigo, G Iacca, E Medvet… - IEEE Transactions on …, 2022 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
According to Hebbian theory, synaptic plasticity is the ability of neurons to strengthen or
weaken the synapses among them in response to stimuli. It plays a fundamental role in the …

[HTML][HTML] Reward-modulated Hebbian plasticity as leverage for partially embodied control in compliant robotics

J Burms, K Caluwaerts, J Dambre - Frontiers in neurorobotics, 2015 - frontiersin.org
In embodied computation (or morphological computation), part of the complexity of motor
control is offloaded to the body dynamics. We demonstrate that a simple Hebbian-like …

On the impact of body material properties on neuroevolution for embodied agents: the case of voxel-based soft robots

E Medvet, G Nadizar, F Pigozzi - Proceedings of the Genetic and …, 2022 - dl.acm.org
Artificial agents required to perform non-trivial tasks are commonly controlled with Artificial
Neural Networks (ANNs), which need to be carefully fine-tuned. This is where ANN …

Evolution of distributed neural controllers for voxel-based soft robots

E Medvet, A Bartoli, A De Lorenzo, G Fidel - Proceedings of the 2020 …, 2020 - dl.acm.org
Voxel-based soft robots (VSRs) are aggregations of elastic, cubic blocks that have sparkled
the interest of Robotics and Artificial Life researchers. VSRs can move by varying the volume …

On the effects of pruning on evolved neural controllers for soft robots

G Nadizar, E Medvet, FA Pellegrino, M Zullich… - Proceedings of the …, 2021 - dl.acm.org
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are commonly used for controlling robotic agents. For
robots with many sensors and actuators, ANNs can be very complex, with many neurons …

Merging pruning and neuroevolution: towards robust and efficient controllers for modular soft robots

G Nadizar, E Medvet, HH Ramstad… - The Knowledge …, 2022 - cambridge.org
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) can be employed as controllers for robotic agents. Their
structure is often complex, with many neurons and connections, especially when the robots …

Evolving modularity in soft robots through an embodied and self-organizing neural controller

F Pigozzi, E Medvet - Artificial life, 2022 - direct.mit.edu
Modularity is a desirable property for embodied agents, as it could foster their suitability to
different domains by disassembling them into transferable modules that can be reassembled …

Investigating Premature Convergence in Co-optimization of Morphology and Control in Evolved Virtual Soft Robots

A Mertan, N Cheney - … Conference on Genetic Programming (Part of …, 2024 - Springer
Evolving virtual creatures is a field with a rich history and recently it has been getting more
attention, especially in the soft robotics domain. The compliance of soft materials endows …

Flexible and multistable pattern generation by evolving constrained plastic neurocontrollers

T Hoinville, C Tapia Siles, P Henaff - Adaptive Behavior, 2011 - journals.sagepub.com
In evolutionary robotics, plastic neural network models proved to be promising for evolving
adaptive behaviors. In particular, neurocontrollers incorporating hebbian synapses have …

[HTML][HTML] An experimental comparison of evolved neural network models for controlling simulated modular soft robots

G Nadizar, E Medvet, S Nichele, S Pontes-Filho - Applied Soft Computing, 2023 - Elsevier
Voxel-based soft robots (VSRs) are a type of modular robots composed by interconnected
soft and deformable blocks, ie, voxels. Thanks to the softness of their bodies, VSRs may …