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dc.date.accessioned2020-12-01T13:48:24Z
dc.date.available2020-12-01T13:48:24Z
dc.date.created2020-11-12T17:42:16Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10852/81316
dc.description.abstractRobots are used in increasingly complex environments and need to be able to adapt to changes and unexpected events. This has traditionally been solved by changing the control of a robot, but having an adjustable body can unlock new and powerful adaptive capabilities. An adaptive morphology allows tuning of the physical structure of the robot to different, often conflicting, dynamic requirements, including speed, stability, and efficiency. It can also unlock new functionalities that might not be possible with static morphologies, including variable gearing and multiple locomotion modalities. Even with the potential benefits of morphological adaptation, the methods and technology are still not at a point where there is wide-spread use of adaptive morphologies in physical robots. The main goal of the thesis is to develop methods and technology to enable adaptation of the physical body of a robot to new real-world environments. An evolutionary approach is taken, and to what degree evolutionary algorithms are able to exploit the dynamic morphology of a legged robot is investigated. The feasibility of continuous adaptation of morphology in realistic outdoor environments is also explored. A quadruped mammal-inspired robot with the ability to continuously adjust the length of its legs during operation has been designed and implemented as part of the work outlined in the thesis. Evolutionary algorithms are used to optimize both the control and morphology of the robot to different hardware conditions and walking surfaces in the lab. To achieve this, a new gait controller concept with an adjustable complexity is introduced. This allows evolution in scenarios with a wide range of evaluation budgets. A final proof-of-concept implementation of adaptive morphology is also demonstrated. Our robot was shown to be able to adapt its body continuously while walking in different unstructured outdoor terrains, significantly outperforming a non-adaptive approach. The thesis concludes that adaptation of the physical body of a robot is feasible, and in fact, already shows significant benefits with current technology and methods. Evolutionary algorithms are shown to be effective for adaptation of morphology in a range of different conditions. By developing new methods and technology, as well as demonstrating their utility through real-world experiments, we hope to inspire others to use adaptive morphology on their physical robots.
dc.languageEN
dc.publisherUniversitetet i Oslo
dc.relation.haspartPaper I: Multi-objective Evolution of Fast and Stable Gaits on a Physical Quadruped Robotic Platform T.F. Nygaard, J. Torresen, K. Glette. The 2016 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI). DOI: 10.1109/SSCI.2016.7850167. An author version is included in the thesis. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/SSCI.2016.7850167
dc.relation.haspartPaper II: Self-Modifying Morphology Experiments with DyRET: Dynamic Robot for Embodied Testing T.F. Nygaard, C.P. Martin, J. Torresen, K. Glette The 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). DOI: 10.1109/ICRA.2019.8793663. An author version is included in the thesis. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2019.8793663
dc.relation.haspartPaper III: Real-world evolution adapts robot morphology and control to hardware limitations T.F. Nygaard, C.P. Martin, E. Samuelsen, J. Torresen, K. Glette The 2018 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO). DOI: 10.1145/3205455.3205567. An author version is included in the thesis. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/3205455.3205567
dc.relation.haspartPaper IV: Evolving Robots on Easy Mode: Towards a Variable Complexity Controller for Quadrupeds T.F. Nygaard, C.P. Martin, J. Torresen, K. Glette The 2019 European Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-16692-2_41. An author version is included in the thesis. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16692-2_41
dc.relation.haspartPaper V: Environmental Adaptation of Robot Morphology and Control through Real-world Evolution T.F. Nygaard, C.P. Martin, D. Howard, J. Torresen, K. Glette Journal paper under review To be published. The paper is removed from the thesis in DUO awaiting publishing.
dc.relation.haspartPaper VI: A Morphologically Adaptive Quadruped Robot in the Wild T.F. Nygaard, K. Glette, C.P. To be published. The paper is removed from the thesis in DUO awaiting publishing.
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1109/SSCI.2016.7850167
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2019.8793663
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1145/3205455.3205567
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16692-2_41
dc.titleLegging It: An Evolutionary Approach to Morphological Adaptation for a Real-World Quadruped Robot
dc.typeDoctoral thesis
dc.creator.authorNygaard, Tønnes Frostad
cristin.unitcode185,15,5,46
cristin.unitnameForskningsgruppe for robotikk og intelligente systemer
cristin.ispublishedtrue
cristin.fulltextpostprint
dc.identifier.cristin1847508
dc.identifier.pagecount138
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:no-84402
dc.type.documentDoktoravhandling
dc.identifier.fulltextFulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/81316/4/PhD-Tonnes-DUO.pdf


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