abstract = "Natural evolution inspires the fields of evolutionary
computation (EC) and artificial life (ALife). A
prominent feature of natural evolution is that it
effectively never ends. However, most EC and ALife
experiments are only run for several days or weeks at a
time. Once an experiment concludes, reproducing,
observing, or extending the results often requires
considerable effort. In contrast, some Collaborative
Interactive Evolution (CIE) systems, e.g. Picbreeder,
were designed to preserve results as potential stepping
stones to build upon later while taking advantage of
human insight to solve challenging problems.
Traditionally, building long-running and open
experiments similar to Picbreeder presents a complex
and time consuming software challenge. To reduce this
challenge and thereby remove the barrier to situating
almost any experiment within an interactive on line
framework, this paper presents the initial prototype
for Worldwide Infrastructure for Neuroevolution (WIN).
Built in the model of Picbreeder, WIN is a modular
library for significantly reducing the complexity of
creating fully persistent, online, and interactive
evolutionary platforms for any new or existing domain.
WIN Online, the public interface for WIN, provides an
online collection of domains built with WIN that lets
novice and expert users browse and meaningfully
contribute to ongoing experiments. Two example
experiments in this paper demonstrate WIN's potential
to quickly bootstrap any evolutionary domain with
online and interactive capabilities.",
notes = "Dept. of EECS (Computer Science Division), University
of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816