An on-line Pittsburgh LCS for the Three-Cornered Coevolution Framework

The Three-Cornered Coevolution Framework describes a method that is capable of addressing classification tasks through coevolution (coadaptive evolution) where three different agents (i.e. a generation agent and two classification agents) learn and adapt to the changes of the problems without human involvement. Here, artificial problems can be generated in concert with classification agents in order to provide insight into their relationships. Previous work on the Two-Cornered Coevolution Framework provided foundation for implementing the system that was able to set-up the problem’s difficulty appropriately while triggering the coevolutionary process. However, the triggering process was set manually without utilising the third agent as proposed in the original framework to perform this task. Previous work on the Three-Cornered Coevolution introduced the third agent (a new classification agent) to trigger the coevolutionary process within the system, where its functionality and effect on the system requires investigation. This paper details the implementation for this case; two classification agents that use different styles of learning techniques (e.g. supervised versus reinforcement learning techniques) is adapted in the classification agents to learn the various classification problems. Ultimately, Learning Classifier System (LCS) is chosen to be implemented in the participating agents. LCS has several potential characteristics, such as interpretability, generalization capability and variations in representation, that are suitable for the system. Experiments show that the Pittsburgh-style LCS with the adaptation of Tabu Search technique in S capable to autonomously adjust the problem’s difficulty and generate a wide range of problems for classification. The adaptation of A-PLUS to an ‘on-line’ system is successful implemented. Further, the classification agents (i.e. R and I) are able to solve the classification tasks where the classification performance are varied. The Three-Cornered Coevolution Framework offers a great potential for autonomous learning and provides useful insight into coevolution learning over the standard studies of pattern recognition. The system is capable of autonomously generating various problems, learning and providing insight into each learning system’s ability by determining the problem domains where they perform relatively well. This is in contrast to humans having to determine the problem domains.