Advances in the Evolutionary Synthesis of Intelligent Agents

Rating:
Summary: A welcome addition to the literature on Intelligent Agents!
Review: This book is an excellent reference book on evolutionary design of intelligent agents. It is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on intelligent agents in general, and evolutionary approaches to synthesis of such agents in particular. One of the editors, Professor Honavar, as amply demonstrated by his other publications, has the rare ability to interrelate an amazing diversity of perspectives on Artificial Intelligence - from symbolic methods to neural networks and evolutionary apporaches, to uncover the shared principles and common foundations, and show how different paradigms can be brought together in synergistic ways to advance our ability to design and analyze intelligent systems. This book includes chapters written by some of the leading experts in the field. The first chapter provides an excellent introduction to the topic. The rest of the chapters provide a veritable feast of material ranging from design of sensory systems for robots to current research on design of software agents. Most of the chapters, although they describe some of the latest research in this area, are written in a style that is accessible to even an interested layperson. (My 15 year old daughter has enjoyed reading several chapters). The book should be especially useful as a reference to graduate students and researchers interested in artificial intelligence, machine learning, evolutionary computation, software agents, and computational evolutionary biology. It should also be useful as supplementary reading for a graduate or upper level undergraduate course on evolutionary computation, computational intelligence, or a related area or as a primary text for a seminar course. I recommend this book enthusiastically to everyone who is interested in the science and engineering of intelligent agents.