Unconventional Hexacopters via Evolution and Learning: Performance Gains and New Insights

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Main Authors: Muff, Jed, Ito, Keiichi, Ang, Elijah H. W., Miras, Karine, Eiben, A. E.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Muff, Jed
Ito, Keiichi
Ang, Elijah H. W.
Miras, Karine
Eiben, A. E.
author_facet Muff, Jed
Ito, Keiichi
Ang, Elijah H. W.
Miras, Karine
Eiben, A. E.
contents Evolution and learning have historically been interrelated topics, and their interplay is attracting increased interest lately. The emerging new factor in this trend is morphological evolution, the evolution of physical forms within embodied AI systems such as robots. In this study, we investigate a system of hexacopter-type drones with evolvable morphologies and learnable controllers and make contributions to two fields. For aerial robotics, we demonstrate that the combination of evolution and learning can deliver non-conventional drones that significantly outperform the traditional hexacopter on several tasks that are more complex than previously considered in the literature. For the field of Evolutionary Computing, we introduce novel metrics and perform new analyses into the interaction of morphological evolution and learning, uncovering hitherto unidentified effects. Our analysis tools are domain-agnostic, making a methodological contribution towards building solid foundations for embodied AI systems that integrate evolution and learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_14129
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unconventional Hexacopters via Evolution and Learning: Performance Gains and New Insights
Muff, Jed
Ito, Keiichi
Ang, Elijah H. W.
Miras, Karine
Eiben, A. E.
Robotics
Evolution and learning have historically been interrelated topics, and their interplay is attracting increased interest lately. The emerging new factor in this trend is morphological evolution, the evolution of physical forms within embodied AI systems such as robots. In this study, we investigate a system of hexacopter-type drones with evolvable morphologies and learnable controllers and make contributions to two fields. For aerial robotics, we demonstrate that the combination of evolution and learning can deliver non-conventional drones that significantly outperform the traditional hexacopter on several tasks that are more complex than previously considered in the literature. For the field of Evolutionary Computing, we introduce novel metrics and perform new analyses into the interaction of morphological evolution and learning, uncovering hitherto unidentified effects. Our analysis tools are domain-agnostic, making a methodological contribution towards building solid foundations for embodied AI systems that integrate evolution and learning.
title Unconventional Hexacopters via Evolution and Learning: Performance Gains and New Insights
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.14129