Evolving Modular Robots: Challenges and Opportunities

The body of robots and their controllers need to be adapted to the task that they carry out. While it is possible to design and optimize free-form morphologies, its physical implementation consumes too many resources. In contrast, modular robots provide a feasible approach to design robotic morphologies that can be deployed in minutes, making them a suitable tool to implement virtual creatures. In this article, we tackle the main challenges to consider when evolving modular robots and mention some opportunities that these systems can provide.