A study of the simulated evolution of the spectral sensitivity of visual agent receptors

In this article we study a model for the evolution of the spectral sensitivity of visual receptors for agents in a continuous virtual environment. The model uses a genetic algorithm (GA) to evolve the agent sensors along with the control of the agents by requiring the agents to solve certain tasks in the simulation environment. The properties of the evolved sensors are analyzed for different scenarios. In particular, it is shown that the GA is able to find a balance between sensor costs and agent performance in such a way that the spectral sensor sensitivity reflects the emission spectrum of the target objects and that the capability of the sensors to evolve can help the agents significantly in adapting to their task.