January 14, 2005

Research at Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (CRIM) Among Top Technology Research Advances for 2004

 — Technology Research News lists EvBots among the year’s top engineering advances

Research on artificial neural networks conducted at North Carolina State University and the University of Utah has been selected as one of the top engineering research advances of 2004 by the editors of Technology Research News.

Dr. Edward Grant, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at NC State, Dr. T.C. Henderson, professor of computer science at the University of Utah, and Dr. Andrew Nelson, visiting researcher at the University of South Florida and NC State alumnus, have developed a method for training artificial neural networks to play “Capture the Flag” using an evolutionary process that fosters competition among the networks. Once the networks are trained, the researchers download them onto onboard computers for mobile robots for a real-life version of the children’s game.

The potential applications for evolutionary robotics research extend far beyond game-playing. The method can be used to create controllers for robots that can adapt to unknown or unfamiliar environments, creating robots that can teach themselves how to locate landmines in a field or search for survivors in collapsed buildings.

— weston —

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