Book Image

Hands-On Genetic Algorithms with Python

By : Eyal Wirsansky
Book Image

Hands-On Genetic Algorithms with Python

By: Eyal Wirsansky

Overview of this book

Genetic algorithms are a family of search, optimization, and learning algorithms inspired by the principles of natural evolution. By imitating the evolutionary process, genetic algorithms can overcome hurdles encountered in traditional search algorithms and provide high-quality solutions for a variety of problems. This book will help you get to grips with a powerful yet simple approach to applying genetic algorithms to a wide range of tasks using Python, covering the latest developments in artificial intelligence. After introducing you to genetic algorithms and their principles of operation, you'll understand how they differ from traditional algorithms and what types of problems they can solve. You'll then discover how they can be applied to search and optimization problems, such as planning, scheduling, gaming, and analytics. As you advance, you'll also learn how to use genetic algorithms to improve your machine learning and deep learning models, solve reinforcement learning tasks, and perform image reconstruction. Finally, you'll cover several related technologies that can open up new possibilities for future applications. By the end of this book, you'll have hands-on experience of applying genetic algorithms in artificial intelligence as well as in numerous other domains.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Basics of Genetic Algorithms
4
Section 2: Solving Problems with Genetic Algorithms
9
Section 3: Artificial Intelligence Applications of Genetic Algorithms
14
Section 4: Related Technologies

Solving the VRP

Imagine that you now manage a larger fulfillment center. You still need to deliver packages to a list of customers, but now you have a fleet of several vehicles at your disposal. What is the best way to deliver the packages to the customers using these vehicles?

This is an example of VRP, a generalization of the TSP described in the previous section. The basic VRP consists of the following three components:

  • The list of locations that need to be visited
  • The number of vehicles
  • The location of the depot, which is used as the starting and ending point for each one of the vehicles

The problem has numerous variations, such as several depot locations, time-critical deliveries, different types of vehicles (with varying capacity and varying fuel consumption, for instance), and many more.

The goal of the problem is to minimize the cost, which can also be defined in many...