Initial Post on IQ Zero Project

I don't usually use project sites like this - guess I'm Old School already. But I wanted to enter the Adafruit PI Zero Contest so here I am!

Actually "Zero" is one of many Genetic Algorithm projects I've got going - the continuation of my 10-plus-year experimentation in Evolution Computing. I wasn't originally planning on using it for the contest - my larger project "Internet Toybox" seemed the obvious choice.

But I've been b struggling with some of the limitations of the (self-imposed) ATTiny85 platform I've been using for "IQ Zero". GA's don't technically require much processing power - and shouldn't if done right, in my opinion.

But the limited runtime memory (which did lead to a brilliant innovation leveraging Procedural Generation) and slow random number generation at 16mhz has caused me to seriously consider adding an internal simulation phase to the system.

Some quick background: Genetic Algorithms are traditionally explored, for the purposes of physical "organisms", in simulation. "Breve Creature Simulator" for example, with which I started, uses a physics-simulated 3D environment.

But not every single moment of GA evolution is rendered - that would slow the simulation to "real time"! Instead, only the math is performed for most generations, and then - once in a while - a generation is rendered on screen.

IQ Zero isn't a simulated organism - it's a real-world robot! To test 300 generations takes - well, 300 generations. To make this feasible, I've limited myself to goals ("fitness tests") which could be achieved by a fairly simple means - allowing me to give each individual "Zero" a fairly short life - 20 to 30 seconds, for instance.

I can already see I'll want more complex behaviors: Longer, slower, more delicate motions and more awareness of the state of the environment. One way is to wait overnight.

But another is a 1 GHZ processor on a board light enough to be carried by a 5-volt robot with no knowledge of its own arms and legs.

So wish me luck on the PI Zero contest, and stay tuned for all the code, diagrams, docs and vids you can handle. Thanks for tuning in!