Studying the capacity of cellular encoding to generate feedforward neural network topologies

Proceeding of: IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, IJCNN 2004, Budapest, 25-29 July 2004Many methods to codify artificial neural networks have been developed to avoid the disadvantages of direct encoding schema, improving the search into the solution's space. A method to analyse how the search space is covered and how are the movements along search process applying genetic operators is needed in order to evaluate the different encoding strategies for multilayer perceptrons (MLP). In this paper, the generative capacity, this is how the search space is covered for a indirect scheme based on cellular systems, is studied. The capacity of the methods to cover the search space (topologies of MLP space) is compared with the direct encoding scheme.Publicad

Generative capacities of cellular automata codification for evolution of NN codification

Proceeding of: International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks. ICANN 2002, Madrid, Spain, August 28-30, 2002Automatic methods for designing artificial neural nets are desired to avoid the laborious and erratically human expert’s job. Evolutionary computation has been used as a search technique to find appropriate NN architectures. Direct and indirect encoding methods are used to codify the net architecture into the chromosome. A reformulation of an indirect encoding method, based on two bi-dimensional cellular automata, and its generative capacity are presented.Publicad

Evolutionary techniques in a constraint satisfaction problem: Puzzle Eternity II

Proceeding of: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2009), May 18-21 (Monday - Thursday), 2009, Trondheim, Norway.This work evaluates three evolutionary algorithms in a constraint satisfaction problem. Specifically, the problem is the Eternity II, a edge-matching puzzle with 256 unique square tiles that have to be placed on a square board of 16 times 16 cells. The aim is not to completely solve the problem but satisfy as many constraints as possible. The three evolutionary algorithms are: genetic algorithm, an own implementation of a technique based on immune system concepts and a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm developed from the genetic algorithm. In addition to comparing the results obtained by applying these evolutionary algorithms, they also will be compared with an exhaustive search algorithm (backtracking) and random search. For the evolutionary algorithms two different fitness functions will be used, the first one as the score of the puzzle and the second one as a combination of the multiobjective algorithm objectives. We also used two ways to create the initial population, one randomly and the other with some domain information.This work was supported in part by the University Carlos III of Madrid under grant PIF UC3M01-0809 and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under project TRA2007- 67374-C02-02

Multi-objective evolution for car setup optimization

Proceeding of: 2010 UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence (UKCI), september, 8-10, 2010, Colchester United Kingdom.This paper describes the winner algorithm of the Car Setup Optimization Competition that took place in EvoStar (2010). The aim of this competition is to create an optimization algorithm to fine tune the parameters of a car in the The Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS) video game. There were five participants of the competition plus the two algorithms presented by the organizers (that do not take part in the competition). Our algorithm is a Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) based on the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGAII) adapted to the constraints of the competition, that focus its fitness function in the lap time. Our results are also compared with other evolutionary algorithms and with the results of the other competition participants.This work was supported in part by the University Carlos III of Madrid under grant PIF UC3M01-0809 and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under project TRA2007- 67374-C02-02

Controller for TORCS created by imitation

Proceeding of: IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, 2009. CIG 2009, september 7-10, 2009, Milano, ItalyThis paper is an initial approach to create a controller for the game TORCS by learning how another controller or humans play the game. We used data obtained from two controllers and from one human player. The first controller is the winner of the WCCI 2008 Simulated Car Racing Competition, and the second one is a hand coded controller that performs a complete lap in all tracks. First, each kind of controller is imitated separately, then a mix of the data is used to create new controllers. The imitation is performed by means of training a feed forward neural network with the data, using the backpropagation algorithm for learning.This work was supported in part by the University Carlos III of Madrid under grant PIF UC3M01-0809 and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under project TRA2007- 67374-C02-02

ADANN: Automatic Design of Artificial Neural Networks

Proceeding of: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO-08. July 12-16, 2008, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.In this work an improvement of an initial approach to design Artificial Neural Networks to forecast Time Series is tackled, and the automatic process to design Artificial Neural Networks is carried out by a Genetic Algorithm. A key issue for these kinds of approaches is what information is included in the chromosome that represents an Artificial Neural Network. In this approach new information will be included into the chromosome so it will be possible to compare these results with those obtained in a previous approach. There are two principal ideas to take into account: first, the chromosome contains information about parameters of the topology, architecture, learning parameters, etc. of the Artificial Neural Network, i.e. Direct Encoding Scheme; second, the chromosome contains the necessary information so that a constructive method gives rise to an Artificial Neural Network topology (or architecture), i.e. Indirect Encoding Scheme. The results for a Direct Encoding Scheme (in order to compare with Indirect Encoding Schemes developed in future works) to design Artificial Neural Networks to forecast Time Series are shown.The research reported here has been supported by the Ministry of Education and Science under project TRA2007-67374-C02-02

Automatic design of artificial neural networks to forecast time series

Actas de: III Simposio de Inteligencia Computacional, SICO 2010, Valencia, 8-10 septiembre, 2010In this work an approach to design Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to forecast Time Series is tackled. The approach is an automatic method that is carried out by an Evolutionary Algorithm (as a search algorithm) to design ANN. A key issue for these kinds of approaches is what information is included into the chromosome that represents an ANN There are two principal ideas about this question: first, the chromosome contains information about parameters of the topology, architecture, learning parameters, etc. of the ANN. The results using a parameter Encoding Scheme to design ANN for a Time Series Competition are shownPublicad

Evolutionary genetic algorithms in a constraint satisfaction problem: Puzzle Eternity II

Proceeding of: International Work-Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, IWANN 2009, Salamanca, Spain, June 10-12, 2009This paper evaluates a genetic algorithm and a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm in a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). The problem that has been chosen is the Eternity II puzzle (E2), an edge-matching puzzle. The objective is to analyze the results and the convergence of both algorithms in a problem that is not purely multiobjective but that can be split into multiple related objectives. For the genetic algorithm two different fitness functions will be used, the first one as the score of the puzzle and the second one as a combination of the multiobjective algorithm objectives.This work was supported in part by the Carlos III University of Madrid under grant PIF UC3M01-0809 and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under project TRA2007-67374-C02-02

Non-Direct Encoding Method Based on Cellular Automata to Design Neural Network Architectures

Architecture design is a fundamental step in the successful application of Feed forward Neural Networks. In most cases a large number of neural networks architectures suitable to solve a problem exist and the architecture design is, unfortunately, still a human expert’s job. It depends heavily on the expert and on a tedious trial-and-error process. In the last years, many works have been focused on automatic resolution of the design of neural network architectures. Most of the methods are based on evolutionary computation paradigms. Some of the designed methods are based on direct representations of the parameters of the network. These representations do not allow scalability; thus, for representing large architectures very large structures are required. More interesting alternatives are represented by indirect schemes. They codify a compact representation of the neural network. In this work, an indirect constructive encoding scheme is proposed. This scheme is based on cellular automata representations and is inspired by the idea that only a few seeds for the initial configuration of a cellular automaton can produce a wide variety of feed forward neural networks architectures. The cellular approach is experimentally validated in different domains and compared with a direct codification scheme.Publicad

Evolutionary cellular configurations for designing feed-forward neural networks architectures

Proceeding of: 6th International Work-Conference on Artificial and Natural Neural Networks, IWANN 2001 Granada, Spain, June 13–15, 2001In the recent years, the interest to develop automatic methods to determine appropriate architectures of feed-forward neural networks has increased. Most of the methods are based on evolutionary computation paradigms. Some of the designed methods are based on direct representations of the parameters of the network. These representations do not allow scalability, so to represent large architectures, very large structures are required. An alternative more interesting are the indirect schemes. They codify a compact representation of the neural network. In this work, an indirect constructive encoding scheme is presented. This scheme is based on cellular automata representations in order to increase the scalability of the method