Evolution of Communication in Multi-Agent Systems

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will explore the way that communication and problem solving interact in groups of autonomous agents, such as mobile robot teams, and to examine methods for evolving task-specific language in these groups. The goal is to come up with new algorithms and protocols that exploit the power of evolutionary algorithms to combine problem solving and communication. More specifically, the PI will try to demonstrate that in task environments whose constraints can be modeled as evolutionary pressures, a group of autonomous agents may evolve a task-specific communication system and simple language that will increase their overall effectiveness. Moreover in environments that penalize communication efforts such as surveillance tasks or noisy communication networks, a task-specific communication system including only those speech acts found necessary to complete the task will minimize inter-agent communications, yielding significant group problem-solving improvement. This multi-faceted problem will be approached by framing it within the well-documented Predator/Prey domain. In the realm of engineering, the predators are seen as representative of a multi-robot group performing a task such as search and rescue or distributed space exploration. This environment will be extended to include the analysis of groups of generalized, heterogeneous robots with different sensing and actuation abilities, which must coordinate efficiently to achieve the group goal. The exact nature of the environment in such tasks may not be known a priori. Hence, a simulation tool will be used that allows communication abilities to evolve in order to best match the agent's abilities to an unknown or partially known task environment. The simulation is modular and allows for the inclusion or exclusion of various selection forces in order to isolate the factors that enable effective communication to develop. The PI will develop a hardware testbed that can be used by many students for independent research projects. This testbed will also be the highlight of an extreme K-12 outreach effort.