--- abstract: 'The problem of the automatic development of controllers for vehicles for which the exact characteristics are not known is considered in the context of miniature helicopter flocking. A methodology is proposed in which neural network based controllers are evolved in a simulation using a dynamic model qualitatively similar to the physical helicopter. Several network architectures and evolutionary sequences are investigated, and two approaches are found that can evolve very competitive controllers. The division of the neural network into modules and of the task into incremental steps seems to be a precondition for success, and we analyse why this might be so.' altloc: [] chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: 'July 16-21, 2006' conference: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation confloc: 'Vancouver, Canada' contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: De Nardi given: Renzo honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Togelius given: Julian honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Holland given: Owen honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Lucas given: Simon M. honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2006 date_type: published datestamp: 2006-10-15 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/52/22 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 5222 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/5222/1/DeNardi2006Evolution.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: ~ lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:39 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: ~ publisher: IEEE Press refereed: TRUE referencetext: ~ relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 12 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 17:08:08 subjects: - comp-sci-mach-learn - comp-sci-neural-nets - comp-sci-robot succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: 'Evolution of Neural Networks for Helicopter Control: Why Modularity Matters' type: confpaper userid: 4535 volume: ~