Layered Learning in Genetic Programming for a Cooperative Robot Soccer Problem

We present an alternative to standard genetic programming (GP) that applies layered learning techniques to decompose a problem. GP is applied to subproblems sequentially, where the population in the last generation of a subproblem is used as the initial population of the next subproblem. This method is applied to evolve agents to play keepaway soccer, a subproblem of robotic soccer that requires cooperation among multiple agents in a dynnamic environment. The layered learning paradigm allows GP to evolve better solutions faster than standard GP. Results show that the layered learning GP outperforms standard GP by evolving a lower fitness faster and an overall better fitness. Results indicate a wide area of future research with layered learning in GP.