Impact of neuron models and network structure on evolving modular robot neural network controllers

Abstract

This paper investigates the properties required to evolve Artificial Neural Networks for distributed control in modular robotics, which typically involves non-linear dynamics and complex interactions in the sensori-motor space. We investigate the relation between macro-scale properties (such as modularity and regularity) and micro-scale properties in Neural Network controllers. We show how neurons capable of multiplicative-like arithmetic operations may increase the performance of controllers in several ways whenever challenging control problems with non-linear dynamics are involved. This paper provides evidence that performance and robustness of evolved controllers can be improved by a combination of carefully chosen micro- and macro-scale neural network properties.