Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory

The Mercury News has recently published an article Machines are catching up to human intelligence by Robert S. Boyd. The article discusses the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and mentions a number of important AI applications.

Besides others, they mention the use of genetic algorithms for satellite design at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA:

An AI technology based on evolutionary principles - known as genetic algorithms - helped NASA design three small satellites that will be launched in February to study magnetic fields in Earth’s atmosphere.

“The AI software examined millions of potential antenna designs before settling on a final one,” said Jason Lohn, the lead scientist on the project at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. “Through a process patterned after Darwin’s survival of the fittest, the strongest designs survive and the less capable do not.”