On embodied memetic evolution and the emergence of behavioural traditions in Robots

This paper describes ideas and initial experiments in embodied imitation using e-puck robots, developed as part of a project whose aim is to demonstrate the emergence of artificial culture in collective robot systems. Imitated behaviours (memes) will undergo variation because of the noise and heterogeneities of the robots and their sensors. Robots can select which memes to enact, and – because we have a multi-robot collective – memes are able to undergo multiple cycles of imitation, with inherited characteristics. We thus have the three evolutionary operators: variation, selection and inheritance, and – as we describe in this paper – experimental trials show that we are able to demonstrate embodied movement-meme evolution.