Abstract
It is widely thought that sensorimotor synchronization, underpinning cultural domains such as music and dance, played a critical role in the evolution of human sociality. Here, we present virtual legged robots controlled by central pattern generators (CPGs) that evolve to synchronize motion to rhythmic sensory input in real time. Multi-stage, multi-objective evolutionary algorithms were used to maximize flexibility of the CPGs with respect to control parameters, and then to optimize a neural input layer for wide-ranging susceptibility to rhythmic inputs. The evolved CPGs self-organize to accommodate the input sequence over a range of frequencies and patterns while keeping the agents upright. We show how this behaviour can be scaled up to multiple interacting agents, including with differing morphologies, to produce novel behaviours. We then outline how spike timing dependent plasticity can be used for the acquisition of new motor patterns. Finally, taking inspiration from biocultural evolution and cognitive neuroscience, we suggest ways in which real-time social adaptation can play a key role in the evolution of complex social behaviours in robots.