THE ANNUAL "HUMIES" AWARDS – 2004–2011
FOR HUMAN-COMPETITIVE RESULTS
PRODUCED BY GENETIC AND EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION
HELD AT THE ANNUAL
GENETIC AND EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION CONFERENCE (GECCO)
Last updated October 17, 2011
The first annual "Humies" competition was held at the 2004 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2004) in Seattle. Entries were solicited for cash awards for human-competitive results that were produced by any form of genetic and evolutionary computation and that were published in the open literature during previous year (i.e., between July 1, 2003 and the deadline for submissions of June 23, 2004). The publication can be a conference paper (e.g., a regular paper, poster, or late-breaking paper) or any work published elsewhere in the open literature (e.g., a journal article, technical report, thesis, book, book chapter) or other paper that has received final unconditional acceptance and not subject to further editing (that is, is "in press").
The criterion for "human-competitiveness" is that an automatically created result is considered "human-competitive" if it satisfies at least one of the following eight criteria.
- (A) The result was patented as an invention in the past, is an improvement over a patented invention, or would qualify today as a patentable new invention.
- (B) The result is equal to or better than a result that was accepted as a new scientific result at the time when it was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
- (C) The result is equal to or better than a result that was placed into a database or archive of results maintained by an internationally recognized panel of scientific experts.
- (D) The result is publishable in its own right as a new scientific result — independent of the fact that the result was mechanically created.
- (E) The result is equal to or better than the most recent human-created solution to a long-standing problem for which there has been a succession of increasingly better human-created solutions.
- (F) The result is equal to or better than a result that was considered an achievement in its field at the time it was first discovered.
- (G) The result solves a problem of indisputable difficulty in its field.
- (H) The result holds its own or wins a regulated competition involving human contestants (in the form of either live human players or human-written computer programs).
1 st Annual "Humies" Awards — 2004 — Seattle
In the first competition in 2004, there were 11 entries. The entries employed various types of algorithms, including genetic algorithms (GA), genetic programming (GP), or genetic learning classifier systems (LCS). The judges were Wolfgang Banzhaf, David E. Goldberg, Erik D. Goodman, Riccardo Poli, and John R. Koza. On June 27, 2004, a session was held at the 2004 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2004) in Seattle to hear 11 presentations concerning results that were claimed to be "human-competitive." After the 11 presentations, the 2004 judging committee met and considered all the entries. The committee judged 6 of the 11 results to be "human-competitive." The judging committee recognized the following levels of achievement among the 6 entries judged to be "human-competitive: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The judges also awarded Merit and Honorable Mention for the remaining 5 entries (which we were not considered "human competitive). The judging committee awarded prizes totaling $5,000 for the 6 entries judged to be "human-competitive" and $500 to remaining 5 entries. The prizes were awarded at the plenary sessions on Wednesday June 30, 2004 at the GECCO-2004 conference. See 2004 Call for Entries,
The table shows the outcome for the 11 entries in 2004, including the names of the authors (column 2), the paper(s) submitted (column 3), the author's statement as to why the entry should be considered "human competitive" (column 4), the author's slide presentation at the GECCO conference (column 5), and the algorithm type (column 6).
| Outcome | Author(s) | Paper(s) | Statement | Presentation | Algorithm type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$1500 — Gold |
Gregory S. Hornby Derek S. Linden NASA Ames Research Center |
An Evolved Antenna for Deployment on NASA's Space Technology 5 Mission |
Slides (11 MB) |
GP |
|
$1500 — Gold |
Hampshire College |
Automatic Quantum Computer Programming: A Genetic Programming Approach |
GP |
||
$500 — Silver |
UCLA |
Evolving Local Search Heuristics for SAT Using Genetic Programming |
GP |
||
$500 — Silver |
Cornell University |
Slides (6 MB) |
GP |
||
$500 — Silver |
Raymond E. Levitt John R. Koza Stanford University |
GP |
|||
$500 — Bronze |
Ricardo Zebulum Didier Keymeulen Michael Ian Ferguson Vu Duong Xin Guo JPL |
GA |
|||
$200 — Merit (Not Human-Competitive) |
RMIT University |
Discovery of Human-Competitive Image Texture Feature Programs Using Genetic programming |
GP |
||
$200 — Merit (Not Human-Competitive) |
Brno University of Technology |
CGP |
|||
$100 — Honorable Mention (Not Human-Competitive) |
Nanyang Technological University |
Evolvable Fuzzy Hardware for Real-Time Embedded Control for Packet-Switching |
GA |
||
$100 — Honorable Mention (Not Human-Competitive) |
Luis Miramontes Hercog Terence C.Fogarty South Bank University |
No presentation |
CS |
||
$100 — Honorable Mention (Not Human-Competitive) |
Hideyuki Takagi Kyushu University |
Applicability of Interactive Evolutionary Computation to Mind Measurement |
No presentation |
IEC |
2nd Annual "Humies" Awards — 2005 — Washington DC
There were 23 entries in 2005. Of these, 8 were awarded gold, silver, or bronze awards totaling $9,000. There were 10 honorable mention awards totaling $1,000. The judges were Wolfgang Banzhaf (Editor-in-Chief of Genetic Programming and Evolvable Hardware journal), David Goldberg (past chair of International Society of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation), Erik Goodman (chair of International Society of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation), Riccardo Poli (GECCO-2004 Chair), and Una-May O'Reilly (GECCO-2005 Chair). See 2005 Call for Entries.
| Outcome | Author(s) | Paper(s) | Statement | Presentation | Algorithm type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$2500 — Gold |
Stefan Preble Hod Lipson Michal Lipson |
Two-dimensional photonic crystals designed by evolutionary algorithms |
GP |
||
$2500 — Gold |
Randy Bartels S. Backus E. Zeek L. Misoguti G. Vdovin I. Chritov N.M. Murnane H.C. Kapteyn Herschel Rabitz |
Learning from Learning Algorithms: Applications to attosecond dynamics of high-harmonic generation |
ES |
||
$0 — Silver |
John Koza Sameer Al-Sakran Lee Jones |
Automated Re-Invention of Six Patented Optical Lens Systems using Genetic Programming |
GP |
||
$1000 — Silver |
Paul Massey John A Clark Susan Stepney |
Evolution of a Human-Competitive Quantum Fourier Transform Algorithm Using Genetic Programming |
GP |
||
$1000 — Silver |
Fulvio Corno Edgar Ernesto Sanchez Sanchez Giovanni Squillero |
Evolving Assembly Programs: How Games Help Microprocessor Validation |
UGP |
||
$1000 — Silver |
Richard J. Terrile Hrand Aghazarian Michael I. Ferguson Wolfgang Fink Terry Huntsberger Didier Keymeulen Gerhard Klimeck Mark Kordon Seungwon Lee Boris Oks Chris Peay Anastassios Petropoulos Paul von Allmen Karl Yee |
Evolutionary Computation Technologies for the Automatic Design of Space Systems Evolutionary Computation applied to the Tuning of MEMS gyroscopes Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms for Low-Thrust Orbit Transfer Optimization |
GA |
||
$500 — Bronze |
Moshe Sipper Yaniv Azaria Ami Hauptman Yoanatan Shichel Eran Ziserman |
Attaining Human-Competitive Game Playing with Genetic Programming GP-Gammon: Genetically Programming Backgammon Players GP-Robocode: Using Genetic Programming to Evolve Robocode Players GP-EndChess: Using Genetic Programming to Evolve Chess Endgame GP-Gammon: Using Genetic Programming to Evolve Backgammon Players |
GP |
||
$500 — Bronze |
Uli Grasemann Risto Miikkulainen |
GA |
|||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Jonathan Wright Yi Zhang |
GA |
|||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Joc Cing |
Evolving Dispatching Rules for Solving the Flexible Job-Shop Problem |
GP |
||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Josh Bongard |
Reinventing the Wheel: An Experiment in Evolutionary Geometry |
GA |
||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Kuntinee Maneeratana Kittipong Boonlong Nachol Chaiyaratana /td> | GA |
|||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Daniel Howard Joseph Kolibal |
GP |
|||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Maarten Keijzer Martin Baptist Vladan Babovic Javier Uthurburu |
Determining Equations for Vegetation Induced Resistance using Genetic Programming |
GP |
||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Shail Patel Ian Stott Manmohan Bhakoo Peter Elliott |
GA |
|||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Lukas Sekanina Michal Bidlo |
Evolutionary Design of Arbitrarily Large Sorting Networks Using Development |
GA |
||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
Zheng Yi Wu Thomas M. Walski |
GA |
|||
$100 – Honorable Mention |
LTC Terry O'Donnell MAJ Jim Hunter 1LT Richard Barton Terence Bullett Steven Best |
GA |
|||
|
Anil Patel David Davis Jim Ouimette Charlie Guthrie Dave Tuk John Williams Tai Nguyen |
Optimizing Cyclic Steam Oil Production with Genetic Algorithms SPE-Paper-Summary.doc |
GA |
|||
Zong Woo Geem |
Optimal Cost Design of Water Distribution Networks using Harmony Search |
MHA |
|||
Gregory S. Hornby Seiichi Takamura Takashi Yamamoto Masahiro Fujita |
Autonomous Evolution of Dynamic Gaits with Two Quadruped Robots |
GA |
|||
Yuji Sato Ryutaro Kanno |
Event-Driven Learning Classifier Systems for Online Soccer Games |
LCS |
|||
Trichy M Kethara Pasupathy
|
Evolutionary algorithm for the placement of fluid power valves on a valve stand |
GA |
3rd Annual "Humies" Awards — 2006 — Seattle
There were 8 entries in 2006. The judges were Wolfgang Banzhaf, Erik Goodman, Riccardo Poli, John R. Koza, and Darrell Whitley. There was one Gold award for $5,000, one Silver award for $3,000, and 2 Bronze awards for $1,000 each. See 2006 Call For Entries.
4th Annual "Humies" Awards — 2007 — London
There were 13 entries in 2007. Five entries were awarded "honorable mention" and 8 were short-listed and invited to make presentation on July 9 at the GECCO-2007 conference in London. Of these 8, the judges made 4 prize awards. There was one gold award ($5,000), one silver award ($3,000), and two bronze awards ($1,000 each). The prize awards were announced on July 11, 2007 the GECCO-2007 conference. See 2007 Call For Entries.
5th Annual "Humies" Awards — 2008 — Atlanta
There were 8 entries in 2008. There were 6 presentations at the GECCO-2008 conference in Atlanta. The judges made 3 prize awards. The prize awards were announced on July 16. There was one gold award ($5,000), one silver award ($3,000), and one bronze award ($2,000). The judges were Erik Goodman, John Koza, Riccardo Poli, and Wolfgang Banzhaf. See 2008 Call For Entries.
| Outcome | Author(s) | Paper(s) | Statement | Presentation | Algorithm type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOLD—$5000 | Lee Spector David M. Clark Ian Lindsay Bradford Barr Jon Klein |
Genetic Programming for Finite Algebras |
GP |
||
| SILVER—$3000 | Tomas Pecenka Zdenek Kotasek Lukas Sekanina | Evolution of Synthetic RTL Benchmark Circuits with Predefined Testability |
GA |
||
BRONZE—$2000 |
Assaf Glazer Moshe Sipper | Evolving an automatic defect classification tool |
Glazer-Sipper-TEXT.txt | Glazer-Sipper-Present.pdf | GA |
| Saheeb Ahmed Kayani Muhammad Afzaal Malik | Bond-Graphs + Genetic Programming: Analysis of an Automatically Synthesized Rotary Mechanical System Combining Bond-Graphs with Genetic Programming for Unified/Automated Design of Mechatronic or Multi Domain Dynamic Systems |
Kayani-Malik-Present.pdf Did not present |
GP |
||
| Nermeen Mohammed Ismail Magda Bahaa Eldin Fayek shraf Hassan Abdel Wahab Nevin Mahmoud Darwish | Planning Complex Processes for Automonomous Vehicles by Means of Genetic Algorithms Planning Complex Processes for Automonomous Vehicles by Means of Genetic Algorithms |
Ismail-TEXT.txt | Did not present | GA | |
| Muhammad Adil Raja Raja Muhammad Atif Azad Raja Muhammad Atif Azad Conor Ryan | A Methodology for Deriving VoIP Equipment Impairment Factors for a mixed NB/WB Context |
GP |
|||
| Kalyan Veeramachaneni Lisa Osadciw | Decision-Level Fusion Strategies for Correlated Biometric Classifiers Design of Distributed Detection Systems with Correlated Heterogeneous Sensors |
PSO |
|||
M. Zubair Shafiq |
Improving the Accuracy of Immune-inspired Malware Detectors by using Intelligent Features A Comparative Study of Fuzzy Inference Systems, Neural Networks and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference Systems for Portscan Detection |
AIS |
6th Annual "Humies" Awards — 2009 — Montreal
There were 9 entries in 2009. Of these, 7 were short-listed and invited to make presentations at the GECCO-2009 conference in Montreal. The judging committee was Wolfgang Banzhaf, Erik Goodman, Riccardo Poli,, and Darrell Whitley. See 2009 Call For Entries.
7th Annual "Humies" Awards — 2010 — Portland, Oregon
There were 10 entries in 2010. Of these, nine were short-listed and invited to make presentations at the GECCO conference. The judges were Wolfgang Banzhaf, Erik Goodman, Riccardo Poli, and Darrell Whitley. See 2010 Call for Entries.
8th Annual "Humies" Awards — 2011 — Dublin, Ireland
There were 10 entries in 2011. Of these, 9 were short-listed and invited to make presentations at the GECCO conference. The judges were Wolfgang Banzhaf, Erik Goodman, and Darrell Whitley. See 2011 Call for Entries.
| Outcome | Author(s) | Paper(s) | Statement | Presentation | Algorithm type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gold — $5000 |
Achiya Elyasaf Ami Hauptmann Moshe Sipper |
GA – Co-evoluntion |
|||
Silver — $3000 |
Z. Vasicek Lukas Sekanina |
A Global Postsynthesis Optimization Method for Combinational Circuits |
CGP |
||
Bronze — $1000 |
Paul Anton Letnes Ingar Stian Nerbø Lars Martin Sandvik Aas Pål Gunnar Ellingsen Morten Kildemo |
Fast and optimal broad-band Stokes/Mueller polarimeter design by the use of a genetic algorithm Genetic Invention of Fast and Optimal Broad-band Stokes/Mueller Polarimeter Designs |
GA |
||
|
Edmund K. Burke Matthew R. Hyde Graham Kendall John Woodward |
A Genetic Programming Hyper-Heuristic Approach for Evolving Two Dimensional Strip Packing Heuristics |
GP |
|||
|
Vinod K. Valsalam Risto Miikkulainen |
GP |
||||
| Farrukh Shahzad Muddassar Farooq | Not short-listed | 5 | |||
| Josafath I. Espinosa-Ramos Roberto A. Vázquez | GA | ||||
| Yehonatan Shichel Moshe Sipper | GP-RARS: Evolving Controllers for the Robot Auto Racing Simulator |
GP |
|||
| Andras Joo Aniko Ekart Juan P. Neirotti | Genetic algorithms for discovery of matrix multiplication methods |
GA | |||
| Matteo Miraz | Evolutionary Testing of Stateful Systems: a Holistic Approach Summary on the Human Competitiveness of TestFul |
GP |
Alex Fukunaga (left), one of the winners of the $500 Bronze awards for Human-Competitive Results, at the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference in Seattle on June 30, 2004, and John Koza (right)
- For information about the annual Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) operated by the Association for Computing Special Interest Group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (SIGEVO)
- For information about the annual Human-Competitive Awards (the "humies") in genetic and evolutionary computation offered at the annual Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO)
- The home page of Genetic Programming Inc. at www.genetic-programming.com.
- The home page of John R. Koza (including online versions of most published papers)
- For information about John Koza’s course on genetic algorithms and genetic programming at Stanford University
- For information about Electoral College reform and National Popular Vote
- Information about the 1992 book Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by Means of Natural Selection, the 1994 book Genetic Programming II: Automatic Discovery of Reusable Programs, the 1999 book Genetic Programming III: Darwinian Invention and Problem Solving, and the 2003 book Genetic Programming IV: Routine Human-Competitive Machine Intelligence. Click here to read chapter 1 of Genetic Programming IV book in PDF format.
- Bibliography of published papers on genetic programming in a searchable bibliography (with many on-line versions of papers) maintained by William Langdon’s and Steven M. Gustafson.
- For information on the Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines journal
- For information on the Genetic Programming book series, see the Call For Book Proposals