Book Image

Hands-On Neuroevolution with Python.

By : Iaroslav Omelianenko
Book Image

Hands-On Neuroevolution with Python.

By: Iaroslav Omelianenko

Overview of this book

Neuroevolution is a form of artificial intelligence learning that uses evolutionary algorithms to simplify the process of solving complex tasks in domains such as games, robotics, and the simulation of natural processes. This book will give you comprehensive insights into essential neuroevolution concepts and equip you with the skills you need to apply neuroevolution-based algorithms to solve practical, real-world problems. You'll start with learning the key neuroevolution concepts and methods by writing code with Python. You'll also get hands-on experience with popular Python libraries and cover examples of classical reinforcement learning, path planning for autonomous agents, and developing agents to autonomously play Atari games. Next, you'll learn to solve common and not-so-common challenges in natural computing using neuroevolution-based algorithms. Later, you'll understand how to apply neuroevolution strategies to existing neural network designs to improve training and inference performance. Finally, you'll gain clear insights into the topology of neural networks and how neuroevolution allows you to develop complex networks, starting with simple ones. By the end of this book, you will not only have explored existing neuroevolution-based algorithms, but also have the skills you need to apply them in your research and work assignments.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Fundamentals of Evolutionary Computation Algorithms and Neuroevolution Methods
4
Section 2: Applying Neuroevolution Methods to Solve Classic Computer Science Problems
9
Section 3: Advanced Neuroevolution Methods
14
Section 4: Discussion and Concluding Remarks

Modified maze experiment

We are almost ready to start the experiment with co-evolution using the modified maze experiment. However, before that, we need to discuss the hyperparameter selection for each co-evolving population.

Hyperparameters for the maze-solver population

For this experiment, we choose to use the MultiNEAT Python library, which uses the Parameters Python class to maintain a list of all supported hyperparameters. The initialization of the hyperparameters for the population of maze solvers is defined in the create_robot_params function. Next, we discuss the essential hyperparameters and the reasons behind choosing particular values for them:

  1. We decided to have a medium-sized population providing sufficient...