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arXiv · 2604.26822

Population Dynamics in ARIEL Robotics Systems Featuring Embodied Evolution via Spatial Mating Mechanisms

Victoria Peterson·Akshat Srivastava·Raghav Prabhakar
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Abstract

We present a Spatially Embedded Evolutionary Algorithm where robot individuals exist in a physically simulated 2D environment, must navigate to encounter potential mates, and compete for survival under various spatially-aware selection pressures. Using HyperNEAT evolved neural controllers for ARIEL gecko-inspired quadrupeds in MuJoCo, we investigate how spatial structure fundamentally alters evolutionary dynamics. Our experiments show a modest 4.9% difference in peak fitness between proximity-based and random pairing possibly within stochastic variation while combining spatial parent selection with stochastic death selection produces unstable population dynamics. We discover a continuous phase transition in energy-based selection experiments, with critical zone count separating extinction-dominated and explosion-dominated regimes. Our density-dependent death selection mechanism achieves 97% completion rates but causes fitness decline, revealing a fundamental dilemma where decoupled mechanisms produce bistable dynamics, positively coupled mechanisms create counter-selection pressures, and only deterministic fitness-based selection maintains stability. These findings provide important constraints for future spatial EA design.

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Victoria Peterson, Akshat Srivastava, Raghav Prabhakar. 2026-04-29. Population Dynamics in ARIEL Robotics Systems Featuring Embodied Evolution via Spatial Mating Mechanisms. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.26822

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