SUBJECT: &NAME Wed -- full abstract &NAME talk Wed 7th May &NUM : &NUM in PEV1-1A1 &NAME &NAME &NAME and &NAME Will present:- Hierarchical Autonomous Resonant Primitives : An Evolutionary Principle . 3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D 3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D 3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D3D Our aim is to understand the principles which allow the design of robust robot controllers using artificial evolution . To do so , we seek to distil the critical elements of natural evolution and apply these principles to our own ends . Having examined the developmental literature , we hypothesise that evolution acts incrementally and compositionally to construct systems consisting of hierarchical autonomous resonant primitives ( &NAME ) . This is ' what ' is developed . ' How ' these HARPs are developed is a related but distinct question which we then address . Evidence is presented from evolutionary computation , developmental neuroscience , and complex systems research to support the validity of this re-formulation . The existence of &NAME has been alluded to in &NAME 's ' nearly-decomposable systems ' , in work on the evolution of modularity and in recent work subsumed under the term ' dynamical hierarchies ' . We hypothesise that degeneracy , canalization , and biological complexity exist as a consequence of the existence of HARPs . We hypothesise that HARPs can be utilized to help solve the competing conventions problem so facilitating effective recombination . We hypothesise that HARPs underlie the massive ontogenic re-organizability seen in nervous systems , in genomes themselves , and indeed in any biological system and so confers ontogenic robustness which facilitates increased evolvability . Evolutionary approaches to neural network design have rarely utilized HARPs , and this review seeks to demonstrate their existence and sets the background for a research program to investigate them . &NAME &NAME ) ) &NAME and Adaptive Systems Group ( ( ) ) &NAME , &NAME of &NAME , &NAME &NAME &NAME , &NAME ( ( &EMAIL ) ) &WEBSITE 