robots learn to work together in study of evolutionary principles
No, no, no. Read that headline again. Really read it:
Robots that Learn to Work Together in a study of Evolutionary Principles.
Yep, conceptually that’s pretty much an automatic Cardiac Arrest of Glee for my geeky-little heart.
Seriously, though: a recent group of researchers in Switzerland have just programmed a computer to behave as “Nature”, randomly assigning genetic traits to a series of robots. Based on the evolved patterns of kinship, something amazing (though, as blogger Eyder Peralta notes, not surprising) happens:
Over generations, the robots developed altruistic principles to help their kingroups survive. And mind that these were robots of very little brain.
Peralta spoke with researcher Lauren Keller who confirmed that none of this behavior was pre-programmed. “The natural selector computer was responsible for randomly selecting the fittest traits.” You can see it in this sweet video of astounding (read: terrifying?) robotic power.
Effing awesome.
Bonus: the study was published with PLoS Biology.
Most exciting thing I’ve read all day (and I’ve been reading about cryogenics!). Check out the full post here, and be sure to scope out more of NPR’s awesome tech blog, All Tech Considered.
Categories: Co-learn, Fit of Geekdom
