Aug 21th, 2019: Darwin: a Neuroevolution and Evolutionary Algorithms framework

Time and Location

Aug 21st, 2019 at 7:00 PM
Room 1083, Building 30, Map to building 30,
Microsoft Campus,
156th Ave NE,
Redmond, WA 98052.

Title

Darwin: a Neuroevolution and Evolutionary Algorithms framework

Abstract

Deep Learning is an exciting field that created a multi-billion industry. But it’s not the only approach to Machine Learning (ML) and AI, nature-inspired algorithms are making a comeback. There’s a renewed interest in Evolutionary Algorithms, and Neuroevolution in particular, yet there are relatively few modern libraries and frameworks compared with Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning.

Darwin is an open source C++ framework (https://github.com/tlemo/darwin) intended to make EA & Neuroevolution experiments easy, quick and fun. It provides building blocks, samples and tooling to avoid the repetitive (and potentially complex) scaffolding required to research new ideas.

In this talk I’ll introduce Evolutionary Algorithms, go through a quick overview of the Darwin Framework and I’ll share a few engineering lessons learned from designing and implementing it.

Speaker Bio

By day, Leonard Mosescu is a compiler engineer, having worked on various parts of the Microsoft Visual C++ toolchain, then on the Android runtime and dev tools for Google, and currently working on the Nvidia CUDA toolchain. By night, he’s pursuing an old interest in AI and Evolutionary Algorithms.

A Word From Our Sponsor

CyberData Corporation was founded by Lloyd Moore in 1996. CyberData specializes in providing custom software and hardware solutions for robotics, machine vision, embedded systems and industrial automation applications. Our mission is to create high quality, innovative technology for the global marketplace.

CyberData also conducts internal research into the areas of robotics, machine vision and artificial intelligence. Specific technologies are then either licensed, sold as products or released as open source, depending on the specific nature and goals of the project. Technological developments are also provided directly to our clients through our consulting services.

Resources

Video | Slides