Single parent mating in genetic algorithm for real robotic system identification

System identification (SI) is a method of determining a mathematical model for a system given a set of input-output data. A representation is made using a mathematical model based on certain specified assumptions. In SI, model structure selection is a step where a model structure perceived as an adequate system representation is selected. A typical rule is that the final model must have a good balance between parsimony and accuracy. As a popular search method, genetic algorithm (GA) is used for selecting a model structure. However, the optimality of the final model depends much on the effectiveness of GA operators. This paper presents a mating technique named single parent mating (SPM) in GA for use in a real robotic SI. This technique is based on the chromosome structure of the parents such that a single parent is sufficient in achieving mating that eases the search for the optimal model. The results show that using three different objective functions (Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion and parameter magnitude–based information criterion 2) respectively, GA with the mating technique is able to find more optimal models than without the mating technique. Validations show that the selected models using the mating technique are acceptable.