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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Published on: July 1, 2019

Relatedness influences signal reliability in evolving robots.

Sara Mitri¹, Dario Floreano, Laurent Keller

¹Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Station 11, Switzerland. sara.mitri@a3.epfl.ch

Proceedings. Biological Sciences

|September 3, 2010

Summary

Genetic relatedness strongly enhances the reliability of communication signals in animal societies. Higher relatedness between signalers and receivers leads to more dependable signals, improving group performance.

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Published on: July 1, 2019

Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Animal communication
Robotics

Background:

Animal communication relies on signalling systems, but factors influencing signal evolution and reliability are not fully understood.
Genetic relatedness between signallers and receivers is a potential key factor in the evolution of reliable signals.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantitatively investigate the role of genetic relatedness in the evolution of reliable signalling systems.
To assess the relationship between relatedness, signal reliability, and group performance using a robot model.

Main Methods:

Artificial evolution over 500 generations using foraging robots emitting and perceiving light signals.
Devised a quantitative measure for signal reliability.
Compared independently evolving populations with varying levels of within-group genetic relatedness.

Main Results:

A strong positive correlation was found between genetic relatedness and signal reliability.
Highly related robots produced reliable signals indicating food sources, enhancing group performance.
Unrelated robots produced unreliable signals.
Signal production frequency, often used as a proxy for reliability, poorly predicted actual reliability and group performance.

Conclusions:

Genetic relatedness is a crucial factor driving the evolution of reliable communication signals.
The frequency of signal production is an unreliable proxy for signal reliability in empirical studies.
Findings have significant implications for understanding animal communication evolution and research methodologies.