Evolutionary robotics: model or design?

In this paper, I review recent work in evolutionary robotics (ER), and discuss the perspectives and future directions of the field. First, I propose to draw a crisp distinction between studies that exploit ER as a design methodology on the one hand, and studies that instead use ER as a modeling tool to better understand phenomena observed in biology. Such a distinction is not always that obvious in the literature, however. It is my conviction that ER would profit from an explicit commitment to one or the other approach. Indeed, I believe that the constraints imposed by the specific approach would guide the experimental design and the analysis of the results obtained, therefore reducing arbitrary choices and promoting the adoption of principled methods that are common practice in the target domain, be it within engineering or the life sciences. Additionally, this would improve dissemination and the impact of ER studies on other disciplines, leading to the establishment of ER as a valid tool either for design or modeling purposes.