{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T19:40:06Z","timestamp":1773171606018,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,5]],"date-time":"2024-11-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1730764800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Robot. AI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The use of evolutionary robotic systems to model aspects of evolutionary biology is well-established. Yet, few studies have asked the question, \u201cWhat kind of model is an evolutionary robotic system?\u201d This paper seeks to address that question in several ways. First, it is addressed by applying a structured model description developed for physical robot models of animal sensorimotor systems, then by outlining the strengths and limitations of evolutionary robotics for modelling evolutionary biology, and, finally, by considering the deepest questions in evolution and which of them might feasibly be modelled by evolutionary robotics. The paper concludes that although evolutionary robotics faces serious limitations in exploring deeper questions in evolutionary biology, its bottom-up approach to modelling populations of evolving phenotypes and their embodied interactions holds significant value for both testing and generating hypotheses.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2024.1278983","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,5]],"date-time":"2024-11-05T16:03:23Z","timestamp":1730822603000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Evolutionary robotics as a modelling tool in evolutionary biology"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Alan F. 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