Phil Husbands

Phil Husbands (born 27 June 1961) is a professor of computer science and artificial intelligence at the English University of Sussex, situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. He is head of the Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems group and co-director of the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR). Husbands is also one of the founders of the field of evolutionary robotics.

His research interests are in long-term investigations of artificial evolution of nervous systems for robots, with emphasis on:


 * visually guided robots acting in the real world
 * theoretical and practical development of advanced evolutionary algorithms for hard engineering and design optimisation problems
 * development of biologically inspired artificial neural networks incorporating diffusible modulators
 * computational neuroscience
 * computer manipulation of sound and image
 * history and philosophy of AI
 * swarm intelligence
 * machine learning.

Husbands has edited several books, including coediting The Mechanical Mind in History (MIT Press; 2008; ISBN 978-0-262-25638-4) as well as author of numerous scientific articles. With neuroscientist Michael O'Shea he introduced the idea of GasNets – artificial neural networks that use diffusing virtual gases as modulators. These are inspired by nitric oxide (NO) volume signalling in real brains. The Sussex team has also done pioneering work on detailed computational modelling of nitric oxide diffusion in the nervous system.