To test your understanding of artificial neural networks (ANNs), evolutionary computation (EC), and neuroevolution, this exam requires you to design a neuroevolutionary system and experimental setup that, if implemented, could be used to study an interesting set of research questions related to topics we have covered in this class. You will need to think carefully about the interrelationships of ANN and EC design, as well as experimental design in general, in designing this neuroevolutionary system.
The goal of this assignment is to test your understanding of course concepts by requiring you to apply them to an authentic neuroevolutionary problem.
Design a neuroevolutionary system and associated experimental setup to use for studying the following. Be sure to specify and justify all aspects of this system and setup. Write up your design in the form (length, tone, content, etc.) of an experimental design section of a research paper.
Note that this design should be sufficiently detailed such that any person who is proficient in the relevant topics (neuroevolution and software development) could implement code to carry out the neuroevolutionary experiments you describe and get results that are highly likely to be in accordance with the results that would be obtained by any other person who is also proficient in the relevant topics who independently implemented code to carry out the experiments you describe. That is, you do not need to explain neuroevolution or software development in your description. However, all of the particulars of your design necessary to carry out the experiments and arrive at the results should be given.
Note also that you will not actually implement this design nor carry out the experiments. You will only be designing and writing up the system and the experiments which someone could carry out. You will not include a results section because you will have no results to report but you should explain the types of data that would be collected, if someone were to carry out these experiments, and how that data would be analyzed.
Prof H wants to study the evolution of instincts and associative learning. In particular, he is interested in studying the artificial evolution of these behaviors in simulated agents and/or physical robots. He thinks that it should be possible to evolve simple instincts for foraging behaviors based on short-range sensing (e.g., sensing the direction to nearby food, then moving toward it), and evolve associative learning for the same foraging task based on longer-range sensing. While not looking for exact simulations of biological neural systems, he would like to use very simple building blocks such as individual neurons with inhibitory and/or excitatory connections to other neural elements, simple biologically plausible learning rules (such as Hebbian, anti-Hebbian, pre-synaptic, and post-synaptic rules), and neuromodulation. In addition he would like there to be a high degree of flexibility in the possible neural architectures evolved and, if possible, he would like to see multiple, very different architectures evolved for the same task. He also thinks that allowing instincts and learning to co-evolve is likely to produce much more interesting systems than evolving them in isolation, that both topological symmetries and asymmetries might be highly useful for different parts of the system, and that environments can have a drastic effect on evolutionary outcomes.
In designing your neuroevolutionary system and associated experiments, here are some questions to consider:
Note that you do not have to consider all or even many possible neuroevolutionary designs and/or experiments appropriate to explore these ideas. A single system and a single experiment is sufficient.
You will turn in to the appropriate drop box in Canvas a machine readable electronic copy of your work that completes the exercise above.