A Tool for Control Research Using Evolutionary Algorithm That Generates Controllers with a Pre-Specified Morphology

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The content and quality do not meet the basic standards of a scientific and technological paper. The structure of the paper, the problems to be solved, and the innovation point are not obvious.

The language is OK.

Author Response

We very much appreciate the time you dedicated to the review and your point of view.

Comments of the reviewer

The content and quality do not meet the basic standards of a scientific and technological paper. The structure of the paper, the problems to be solved, and the innovation point are not obvious.

Authors' response

We consider Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to control systems is a recent and vibrant area of research. Tools for automatic simulation and automatic controller generation is currently greatly appreciated in control systems scientific community because they enable to an effective use of computer for their research activity. In the paper we describe a tool we constructed for control research using evolutionary algorithms. Particularly, we propose an evolutionary algorithm that generates only controllers that satisfy a pre-specified morphology.  By specifying the morphology of controllers that the algorithm generates, the controller designer can drive the search direction.  The morphology can be more or less general allowing the researcher explore new control strategies. An important part of the algorithm is the proposed  cost function, specifically tailored to make a fast evaluation of the performance of a closed-loop control system.  Furthermore, source code of the software developed to implement the algorithm and obtaining the results presented in the paper is free and open. We must point out that every graph in Section Results, is obtained after thousand simulations automatically performed.

We agree that structure of the paper, the problems to be solved and the innovations points were not clear. To make clear the paper contribution and improve the points you observed we make major changes in the paper, including:

- Abstract and Introduction were completely rewritten.
 
- Some paragraph and figures that did not add significant information  were eliminated.

- The Result Section was re-arranged.

- The Conclusion Section was also modified to reflect the changes in   previous Sections.

- Some typos and grammar mistakes were corrected.

Reviewer 2 Report

Reviewer 1:

The title “A Tool for Control Research Using Evolutionary Algorithm that Generates Controllers with a Pre-Specified Morphology” is quite interesting and well written but the presentation of the manuscript is not up to the mark. I’ll recommend this article for publication after revisions.

1: Please correct the whole paragraph of 3. Creation of initial generation of line 126 and put figure 1 on suitable position.

2: I have noticed that there are many figures in this manuscript. I’ll recommend you to please add suitable and important figures in manuscript and others should be put in supplementary file and cite accordingly. Moreover, you can also combine figure 2 and 3 as a one figure.

3: I’ll recommend you to just focus on the findings of this research in conclusion section and remove extra details which you have already explain in abstract and introduction part.

Reviewer 1:

The title “A Tool for Control Research Using Evolutionary Algorithm that Generates Controllers with a Pre-Specified Morphology” is quite interesting and well written but the presentation of the manuscript is not up to the mark. I’ll recommend this article for publication after revisions.

1: Please correct the whole paragraph of 3. Creation of initial generation of line 126 and put figure 1 on suitable position.

2: I have noticed that there are many figures in this manuscript. I’ll recommend you to please add suitable and important figures in manuscript and others should be put in supplementary file and cite accordingly. Moreover, you can also combine figure 2 and 3 as a one figure.

3: I’ll recommend you to just focus on the findings of this research in conclusion section and remove extra details which you have already explain in abstract and introduction part.

Author Response

We very much appreciate your time and constructive comments.

Comments of the reviewer

The title “A Tool for Control Research Using Evolutionary Algorithm that Generates Controllers with a Pre-Specified Morphology” is quite interesting and well written but the presentation of the manuscript is not up to the mark. I’ll recommend this article for publication after revisions.

Authors' response

• The Abstract and Introduction Section has been rewritten to make the  contribution clearer.
• The Result Section was rewritten. Now the exploration capability of  the algorithm is illustrated. We must point out that every graph in this section, is obtained after thousands simulations automatically performed.
•  The Conclusion Section was also rewritten to reflect the changes in previous Sections.

We consider that after this changes the paper content is more consistent with its title.

Comments of the reviewer

 1: Please correct the whole paragraph of 3. Creation of initial generation of line 126 and put figure 1 on suitable position.

Authors' response

We divide the Section and rewrite most of it.  We consider the Creation of initial generation is more understandable now

Comments of the reviewer

2: I have noticed that there are many figures in this manuscript. I’ll recommend you to please add suitable and important figures in manuscript and others should be put in supplementary file and cite accordingly. Moreover, you can also combine figure 2 and 3 as a one figure.

Authors' response

We add some information related to Fig. 3, thence we did not combine Fig 2 and 3 as you suggest; however some paragraph and figures that did not add significant information were eliminated.

Comments of the reviewer

3: I’ll recommend you to just focus on the findings of this research in conclusion section and remove extra details which you have already explain in abstract and introduction part.

Authors' response

Thank you very much for this observation we try to follow your guidelines.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Pls see the attached files

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Language is ok

Author Response

Please see the attached file

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

The public pool of data and code that the authors provided should be accessible for sufficient evaluation.

The format of the references is not standardized. 

The contribution of this article should be elaborated in more detail

It is OK

Author Response

Please see the attached file

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf