creators_name: Togelius, Julian
creators_name: Lucas, Simon M.
type: confpaper
datestamp: 2006-10-15
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:39
metadata_visibility: show
title: Evolving robust and specialized car racing skills
ispublished: pub
subjects: comp-sci-mach-learn
subjects: comp-sci-neural-nets
subjects: comp-sci-art-intel
full_text_status: public
abstract: Neural network-based controllers are evolved for racing simulated R/C cars around several tracks of varying difficulty. The transferability of driving skills acquired when evolving for a single track is evaluated, and different ways of evolving controllers able to perform well on many different tracks are investigated. It is further shown that such generally proficient controllers can reliably be developed into specialized controllers for individual tracks. Evolution of sensor parameters together with network weights is shown to lead to higher final fitness, but only if turned on after a general controller is developed, otherwise it hinders evolution. It is argued that simulated car racing is a scalable and relevant testbed for evolutionary robotics research, and that the results of this research can be useful for commercial computer games.
date: 2006
date_type: published
publisher: IEEE Press
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Togelius, Julian and Lucas, Simon M.  (2006) Evolving robust and specialized car racing skills.  [Conference Paper]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/5219/1/Togelius2006Evolving.pdf