Ziemke T., Balkenius C., Hallam J. (Eds.). From Animals to Animats 12

12th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2012. Odense, Denmark, August 27-30, 2012. Proceedings. — Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2012. — 465 p. — ISBN 978-3-642-33092-6, e-ISBN 978-3-642-33093-3This book contains the articles presented at the 12th International Conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB 2012), held in Odense at the University of Southern Denmark in August 2012.
The objective of the biennial SAB conference is to bring together researchers in computer science, artificial intelligence, artificial life, complex systems, robotics, neurosciences, ethology, evolutionary biology, and related fields so as to further our understanding of the behaviors and underlying mechanisms that allow natural and artificial animals to adapt and survive in uncertain environments.
Adaptive behavior research is distinguished by its focus on the modeling and creation of complete animal-like systems, which – however simple at the moment – may be one of the best routes to understanding intelligence in natural and artificial systems. The conference is part of a long series that started with the first SAB conference held in Paris in September 1990, which was followed by conferences in Honolulu 1992, Brighton 1994, Cape Cod 1996, ZЁurich 1998, Paris 2000, Edinburgh 2002, Los Angeles 2004, Rome 2006, Osaka 2008, and Paris 2010, where the 20th anniversary of the conference was celebrated. In 1992, MIT Press introduced the quarterly journal Adaptive Behavior, now published by SAGE Publications. The establishment of the International Society for Adaptive Behavior (ISAB) in 1995 further underlined the emergence of adaptive behavior as a fully-fledged scientific discipline. The present proceedings provide a comprehensive and up-to-date resource for the future development of this exciting field.
The articles cover the main areas in animat research, including the animat approach and methodology, perception and motor control, evolution, learning and adaptation, and collective and social behavior. The authors focus on well-defined models, computer simulations or robotic models, that help to characterize and compare various organizational principles, architectures, and adaptation processes capable of inducing adaptive behavior in real animals or synthetic agents, the animats.
This conference and its proceedings would not exist without the substantial help of many people. We would like to thank the members of the Program Committee, who critically reviewed 66 submissions and provided detailed suggestions on how to improve the 44 articles accepted for inclusion in these proceedings and presentation at the conference (22 talks, 22 posters). We also thank, once again, Jean Solґe for the artistic conception of the SAB 2012 poster and the proceedings cover.