Close

Zero Invents "Wheel Rowing"

A project log for IQ Zero: Evolving Unprogrammed Robots

Clueless, broken robots thrive on Genetic Algorithms and Procedural Generation

die-master-monkeyDie, Master Monkey! 02/24/2016 at 19:040 Comments

Yeah I said the next post would be about the translation from PRNG-generated integer streams into actionable instructions for a Genetic Algorithm - but first, a video! Strapped-onto a toy car and left for a few hours, "Zero" seems to have invented a clever - if not particularly exciting - method of "rowing" one of the car's wheels, nudging it a few inches each time.

Come to think of it, it's solution is pretty efficient, from an energy expenditure perspective.

Understand that if we ran it again (and I have), it will come up with different solutions. And if that wheel broke it would figure something else out. That's why I'm so hot for this stuff - imagine, machines to which we can finally say "you're the expensive computer - you figure it out!" :)

Right, so how does a glob of instructionspace DNA become a new way to push a wheel? Yes, I promised, okay next post but - with a diagram so - worth the wait. Here's a sneak peek:


Discussions