Computational Brain-Body Co-Evolution

This chapter investigates the synergies between the evolution and development of the nervous systems and the body plan. It starts with the evolution of an undulatory swimming behavior of an elongated animat when the motor configuration and the neural controller are subject to evolution. Then, it is shown that there is a close coupling between the function and complexity of the neural controller and the body plan when the degree of the body plan is under different constraints. Based on this, the development of the body plan is embedded in the model, thus demonstrating a close coupling between the two. Due to the differences in the evolved body plan, different neural controllers emerge, resulting in undulatory and peristaltic locomotive behaviors, respectively. Finally, the development of both the neural controller and the body plan under the regulation of a gene regulatory network is included in the model.