Nature Inspired Algorithms

The aim of the lecture is to provide an introduction to nature-inspired algorithms, such as evolutionary algorithms, neural networks, etc.

The materials for the lecture and tutorials are published on this page.

The exam will be oral with time for preparation. The exam should test the topics covered in the lecture and their applications. A detailed description of the exam and a list of examined topics is on a separate page.

Lesson Plan

Date Topic
Feb 19 Introduction - artificial intelligence, computational intelligence
Feb 26 Reinforcement Learning - Q-learning, SARSA, multi-agent reinforcement learning
Mar 5 Evolutionary Algorithms - Simple Genetic Algorithm, Operators, Fitness, Source code from tutorial
Mar 12 Evolutionary Algorithms - Continuous and Combinatorial Optimization
Mar 19 Evolutionary Algorithms - Genetic Programming
Mar 26 Swarm Algorithms - Particle Swarm Optimization, Ant Colony Optimization
Mar 2 Neural Networks - Introduction
Apr 9 Neural Networks - RBF Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks
Apr 16 Neural Networks - Convolutional Networks and Image Processing
Apr 23 Neuroevolution
Apr 30 Deep Reinforcement Learning
May 7 Artificial Life
May 14 ???
May 21 ???

Tutorials

In the tutorials, we will implement some of the algorithms/models from the lecture and will experiment with them. In order to obtain the credit, you need to solve three homework assignments that will be published during the semester.

Assignments

  1. Knapsack problem - deadline March 30, 2025.
  2. Vehicle routing problem - deadline April 20, 2025.
  3. Neuroevolution - deadline May 25, 2025.

Topics covered

Date Topic
Feb 18 Introduction - Python libraries for ML
Feb 25 Reinforcement Learning
Mar 4 Evolutionary Algorithms - introduction
Mar 11 Evolutionary Algorithms - continuous optimization
Mar 18 Evolutionary Algorithms - genetic programming
Mar 25 Swarm Optimization - PSO, ACO
Apr 1 Neural Networks - Introduction
Apr 8 Neural Networks - RBF and recurrent networks
Apr 15 Neural Networks - Convolutional Networks
Apr 22 Tutorial cancelled to keep synchronization with lecture
Apr 29 Neuroevolution
May 6 Deep Reinforcement Learning
May 13 Artificial Life
May 20 ??? (Probably cancelled)