Physics-based motion control through hierarchical neuroevolution



Mart Hagenaars Nicolas Pronost Arjan Egges
Utrecht University, The Netherlands Utrecht University, The Netherlands Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Virtual Human Technology Lab Virtual Human Technology Lab Virtual Human Technology Lab





Abstract :
In this paper, we propose a hierarchical neuroevolution technique for physics-based character animation control. The artificial neural network that makes up the controller is composed of a number of interdependent control modules. As a proof-of-concept, modules for posing, standing, and reaching motions are demonstrated. We show that evolving these modules one-by-one, with each of them dependent on its predecessors, allows evolution to converge faster, and possibly deliver better and more stable results than common, i.e. non-hierarchical, controllers.

Paper :
Short paper presented at the 27th Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA) 2014.
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Video :
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