Evolutionary Algorithms In Action:

To fully grasp the nature of Evolutionary Computing and understand why it is so widely implemented in more and more diverse fields, it is beneficial to actually see the applications of GA and GP mentioned in their respecive sections.

The following, thus, illustrates Evolutionary Algorithms in Action: a real and dynamic implementation of Evolutionary Computing on the solving of various complex problems.

Detailed Examples

The following illustrate 4 distinct and detailed walkthroughs of real-life applications of Evolutionary Computation.






Minor Examples

Here are several interesting uses of Genetic Algorithms and Programming.

Robots and Football

A team of robotic football players relies on the programmer's code to guide match playing tactics, such as a defensive strategy. However it is possible to evolve a robot to solve the tasks of, finding the most optimal strategy, instead of being hand coded by the programmer.

The following videos show the ability of a robot to track and follow a ball.

Hand Coded Example:
Launch QuickTime Video 1 | Download Video 1

Evolved Example:
Launch QuickTime Video 2 | Download Video 2
Launch QuickTime Video 3 | Download Video 3

© www.massey.ac.nz/~mgwalker/gp/videos/index.html


Traveling Salesman Problem

The following http://www.heatonresearch.com/articles/65/page1.html is a Java applet that shows the implementation of Genetic Algorithms on the TSP problem discussed here.

GA In Excel

Using Excel, particularly it's Problem Solver, in Genetic Algorithm Problem Solving. From http://www.alexschreyer.de/projects/xloptim/:

"This program allows the user to take an Excel spreadsheet with any type of calculation data (no matter how complex) and optimize a calculation outcome (e.g. total cost). This is based on the selection of up to five design variables and up to five constraints. The optimization can be performed as a maximization, minimization or the attempt to reach a target value. Applications for this technique lie in every field of work. If the problem can be modeled in Excel, it can be optimized using this program."

Genetic Studios

http://portal.silkdigital.com/index.php :

"Genetics Studio is an easy-to-use utility designed to help study genetic algorithms and their application with various types of numeric data. Genetic algorithms are powerful tools that can now be mastered with a few easy clicks. This project is constantly evolving - no pun intended - so please check back often to see what new features we've added."