Artificial life is a research field studying what processes and properties define life, based on a multidisciplinary approach spanning the physical, natural and computational sciences. Artificial life aims to foster a comprehensive study of life beyond "life as we know it" and towards "life as it could be", with theoretical, synthetic and empirical models of the fundamental properties of living systems. While still a relatively young field, artificial life has flourished as an environment for researchers with different backgrounds, welcoming ideas and contributions from a wide range of subjects. Hybrid Life is an attempt to bring attention to some of the most recent developments within the artificial life community, rooted in more traditional artificial life studies but looking at new challenges emerging from interactions with other fields. In particular, Hybrid Life focuses on three complementary themes: 1) theories of systems and agents, 2) hybrid augmentation, with augmented architectures combining living and artificial systems, and 3) hybrid interactions among artificial and biological systems. After discussing some of the major sources of inspiration for these themes, we will focus on an overview of the works that appeared in Hybrid Life special sessions, hosted by the annual Artificial Life Conference between 2018 and 2022.

自动故障检测是许多运动的主要挑战。在比赛中，裁判根据规则在视觉上判断缺点。因此，在判断时确保客观性和公平性很重要。为了解决这个问题，一些研究试图使用传感器和机器学习来自动检测故障。但是，与传感器的附件和设备（例如高速摄像头）相关的问题，这些问题与裁判的视觉判断以及故障检测模型的可解释性相抵触。在这项研究中，我们提出了一个用于非接触测量的断层检测系统。我们使用了根据多个合格裁判的判断进行训练的姿势估计和机器学习模型，以实现公平的错误判断。我们使用智能手机视频在包括东京奥运会的奖牌获得者中，使用了正常比赛的智能手机视频，并有意地走路。验证结果表明，所提出的系统的平均准确度超过90％。我们还透露，机器学习模型根据种族步行规则检测到故障。此外，奖牌获得者的故意故障步行运动与大学步行者不同。这一发现符合更通用的故障检测模型的实现。该代码和数据可在https://github.com/szucchini/racewalk-aijudge上获得。

Pre-trained language models, despite their rapid advancements powered by scale, still fall short of robust commonsense capabilities. And yet, scale appears to be the winning recipe; after all, the largest models seem to have acquired the largest amount of commonsense capabilities. Or is it? In this paper, we investigate the possibility of a seemingly impossible match: can smaller language models with dismal commonsense capabilities (i.e., GPT-2), ever win over models that are orders of magnitude larger and better (i.e., GPT-3), if the smaller models are powered with novel commonsense distillation algorithms? The key intellectual question we ask here is whether it is possible, if at all, to design a learning algorithm that does not benefit from scale, yet leads to a competitive level of commonsense acquisition. In this work, we study the generative models of commonsense knowledge, focusing on the task of generating generics, statements of commonsense facts about everyday concepts, e.g., birds can fly. We introduce a novel commonsense distillation framework, I2D2, that loosely follows the Symbolic Knowledge Distillation of West et al. but breaks the dependence on the extreme-scale models as the teacher model by two innovations: (1) the novel adaptation of NeuroLogic Decoding to enhance the generation quality of the weak, off-the-shelf language models, and (2) self-imitation learning to iteratively learn from the model's own enhanced commonsense acquisition capabilities. Empirical results suggest that scale is not the only way, as novel algorithms can be a promising alternative. Moreover, our study leads to a new corpus of generics, Gen-A-Tomic, that is of the largest and highest quality available to date.

We consider task allocation for multi-object transport using a multi-robot system, in which each robot selects one object among multiple objects with different and unknown weights. The existing centralized methods assume the number of robots and tasks to be fixed, which is inapplicable to scenarios that differ from the learning environment. Meanwhile, the existing distributed methods limit the minimum number of robots and tasks to a constant value, making them applicable to various numbers of robots and tasks. However, they cannot transport an object whose weight exceeds the load capacity of robots observing the object. To make it applicable to various numbers of robots and objects with different and unknown weights, we propose a framework using multi-agent reinforcement learning for task allocation. First, we introduce a structured policy model consisting of 1) predesigned dynamic task priorities with global communication and 2) a neural network-based distributed policy model that determines the timing for coordination. The distributed policy builds consensus on the high-priority object under local observations and selects cooperative or independent actions. Then, the policy is optimized by multi-agent reinforcement learning through trial and error. This structured policy of local learning and global communication makes our framework applicable to various numbers of robots and objects with different and unknown weights, as demonstrated by numerical simulations.

Generative models, particularly GANs, have been utilized for image editing. Although GAN-based methods perform well on generating reasonable contents aligned with the user's intentions, they struggle to strictly preserve the contents outside the editing region. To address this issue, we use diffusion models instead of GANs and propose a novel image-editing method, based on pixel-wise guidance. Specifically, we first train pixel-classifiers with few annotated data and then estimate the semantic segmentation map of a target image. Users then manipulate the map to instruct how the image is to be edited. The diffusion model generates an edited image via guidance by pixel-wise classifiers, such that the resultant image aligns with the manipulated map. As the guidance is conducted pixel-wise, the proposed method can create reasonable contents in the editing region while preserving the contents outside this region. The experimental results validate the advantages of the proposed method both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Vehicle routing problems and other combinatorial optimization problems have been approximately solved by reinforcement learning agents with policies based on encoder-decoder models with attention mechanisms. These techniques are of substantial interest but still cannot solve the complex routing problems that arise in a realistic setting which can have many trucks and complex requirements. With the aim of making reinforcement learning a viable technique for supply chain optimization, we develop new extensions to encoder-decoder models for vehicle routing that allow for complex supply chains using classical computing today and quantum computing in the future. We make two major generalizations. First, our model allows for routing problems with multiple trucks. Second, we move away from the simple requirement of having a truck deliver items from nodes to one special depot node, and instead allow for a complex tensor demand structure. We show how our model, even if trained only for a small number of trucks, can be embedded into a large supply chain to yield viable solutions.

Problem instances of a size suitable for practical applications are not likely to be addressed during the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) period with (almost) pure quantum algorithms. Hybrid classical-quantum algorithms have potential, however, to achieve good performance on much larger problem instances. We investigate one such hybrid algorithm on a problem of substantial importance: vehicle routing for supply chain logistics with multiple trucks and complex demand structure. We use reinforcement learning with neural networks with embedded quantum circuits. In such neural networks, projecting high-dimensional feature vectors down to smaller vectors is necessary to accommodate restrictions on the number of qubits of NISQ hardware. However, we use a multi-head attention mechanism where, even in classical machine learning, such projections are natural and desirable. We consider data from the truck routing logistics of a company in the automotive sector, and apply our methodology by decomposing into small teams of trucks, and we find results comparable to human truck assignment.

Analyzing defenses in team sports is generally challenging because of the limited event data. Researchers have previously proposed methods to evaluate football team defense by predicting the events of ball gain and being attacked using locations of all players and the ball. However, they did not consider the importance of the events, assumed the perfect observation of all 22 players, and did not fully investigated the influence of the diversity (e.g., nationality and sex). Here, we propose a generalized valuation method of defensive teams by score-scaling the predicted probabilities of the events. Using the open-source location data of all players in broadcast video frames in football games of men's Euro 2020 and women's Euro 2022, we investigated the effect of the number of players on the prediction and validated our approach by analyzing the games. Results show that for the predictions of being attacked, scoring, and conceding, all players' information was not necessary, while that of ball gain required information on three to four offensive and defensive players. With game analyses we explained the excellence in defense of finalist teams in Euro 2020. Our approach might be applicable to location data from broadcast video frames in football games.

This study proposed a novel robotic gripper that can achieve grasping and infinite wrist twisting motions using a single actuator. The gripper is equipped with a differential gear mechanism that allows switching between the grasping and twisting motions according to the magnitude of the tip force applied to the finger. The grasping motion is activated when the tip force is below a set value, and the wrist twisting motion is activated when the tip force exceeds this value. "Twist grasping," a special grasping mode that allows the wrapping of a flexible thin object around the fingers of the gripper, can be achieved by the twisting motion. Twist grasping is effective for handling objects with flexible thin parts, such as laminated packaging pouches, that are difficult to grasp using conventional antipodal grasping. In this study, the gripper design is presented, and twist grasping is analyzed. The gripper performance is experimentally validated.

Robotic hands with soft surfaces can perform stable grasping, but the high friction of the soft surfaces makes it difficult to release objects, or to perform operations that require sliding. To solve this issue, we previously developed a contact area variable surface (CAVS), whose friction changed according to the load. However, only our fundamental results were previously presented, with detailed analyses not provided. In this study, we first investigated the CAVS friction anisotropy, and demonstrated that the longitudinal direction exhibited a larger ratio of friction change. Next, we proposed a sensible CAVS, capable of providing a variable-friction mechanism, and tested its sensing and control systems in operations requiring switching between sliding and stable-grasping modes. Friction sensing was performed using an embedded camera, and we developed a gripper using the sensible CAVS, considering the CAVS friction anisotropy. In CAVS, the low-friction mode corresponds to a small grasping force, while the high-friction mode corresponds to a greater grasping force. Therefore, by controlling only the friction mode, the gripper mode can be set to either the sliding or stable-grasping mode. Based on this feature, a methodology for controlling the contact mode was constructed. We demonstrated a manipulation involving sliding and stable grasping, and thus verified the efficacy of the developed sensible CAVS.