The Role of Non-linearity for Evolved Multifunctional Robot Behavior

In this paper the role of non-linear control structures for the development of multifunctional robot behavior in a self-organized way is discussed. This discussion is based on experiments where combinations of two behavioral tasks are incrementally evolved. The evolutionary experiments develop recurrent neural networks of general type in a systematically way. The resulting networks are investigated according to the underlying structure-function relations. These investigations point to necessary properties providing multifunctionality, scalability, and openended evolutionary strategies in Evolutionary Robotics.