Evolutionary Robotics on the Web with WebGL and Javascript
This work increases accessibility for researchers and outreach to K-12 students and the public, though it is incremental in applying existing web technologies to evolutionary robotics.
The authors tackled the challenge of making evolutionary robotics accessible through web browsers by developing two web-based tools using WebGL and JavaScript, enabling 3D physics simulations without local installations.
Web-based applications are highly accessible to users, providing rich, interactive content while eliminating the need to install software locally. However, evolutionary robotics (ER) has faced challenges in this domain as web-based technologies have not been amenable to 3D physics simulations. Traditionally, physics-based simulations require a local installation and a high degree of user knowledge to configure an environment, but the emergence of Javascript-based physics engines enables complex simulations to be executed in web browsers. These developments create opportunities for ER research to reach new audiences by increasing accessibility. In this work, we introduce two web-based tools we have built to facilitate the exchange of ideas with other researchers as well as outreach to K-12 students and the general public. The first tool is intended to distribute and exchange ER research results, while the second is a completely browser-based implementation of an ER environment.