Scalable Co-Optimization of Morphology and Control in Embodied Machines

Evolution sculpts both the body plans and nervous systems of agents together over time. In contrast, in AI and robotics, a robot's body plan is usually designed by hand, and control policies are then optimized for that fixed design. The task of simultaneously co-optimizing the morphology and controller of an embodied robot has remained a challenge. In psychology, the theory of embodied cognition posits that behavior arises from a close coupling between body plan and sensorimotor control, which suggests why co-optimizing these two subsystems is so difficult: most evolutionary changes to morphology tend to adversely impact sensorimotor control, leading to an overall decrease in behavioral performance. Here, we further examine this hypothesis and demonstrate a technique for "morphological innovation protection", which temporarily reduces selection pressure on recently morphologically-changed individuals, thus enabling evolution some time to "readapt" to the new morphology with subsequent control policy mutations. We show the potential for this method to avoid local optima and converge to similar highly fit morphologies across widely varying initial conditions, while sustaining fitness improvements further into optimization. While this technique is admittedly only the first of many steps that must be taken to achieve scalable optimization of embodied machines, we hope that theoretical insight into the cause of evolutionary stagnation in current methods will help to enable the automation of robot design and behavioral training -- while simultaneously providing a testbed to investigate the theory of embodied cognition

Visual Learning In The Perception Of Texture: Simple And Contingent Aftereffects Of Texture Density

Novel results elucidating the magnitude, binocularity and retinotopicity of aftereffects of visual texture density adaptation are reported as is a new contingent aftereffect of texture density which suggests that the perception of visual texture density is quite malleable. Texture aftereffects contingent upon orientation, color and temporal sequence are discussed. A fourth effect is demonstrated in which auditory contingencies are shown to produce a different kind of visual distortion. The merits and limitations of error-correction and classical conditioning theories of contingent adaptation are reviewed. It is argued that a third kind of theory which emphasizes coding efficiency and informational considerations merits close attention. It is proposed that malleability in the registration of texture information can be understood as part of the functional adaptability of perception

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 31

This is the thirty first issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 55 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 5 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 18 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, biological rhythms, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, enzymology, genetics, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, life support systems, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine

Results of Skylab medical experiment M171: Metabolic activity

The experiment was conducted to establish whether man's ability to perform mechanical work would be progressively altered as a result of exposure to the weightless environment of space flight. The Skylab crewmen exercised on a bicycle ergometer at workloads approximating 25, 50, and 75 percent of their maximum aerobic capacity. The physiological parameters monitored were respiratory gas exchange, blood pressure, and vectorcardiogram/heart rate. The results of these tests indicate that the crewmen had no significant decrement in their responses to exercise during their exposure to zero gravity. The results of the third manned Skylab mission (Skylab 4) are presented and a comparison is made of the overall results obtained from the three successively longer Skylab manned missions. The Skylab 4 crewmembers' 84-day in-flight responses to exercise were no worse and were probably better than the responses of the crewmen on the first two Skylab missions. Indications that exercise was an important contributing factor in maintaining this response are discussed

Digest of Russian Space Life Sciences, issue 33

This is the thirty-third issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 55 papers published in Russian journals. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to the following areas of space biology and medicine: biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, genetics, hematology, human performance, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, and reproductive system

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 30

This is the thirtieth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 47 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of three Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 20 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, biospheric research, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine