Grasp - Evolution For Constraint Satisfaction Problems

There are several evolutionary approaches for solving random binary Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). In most of these strategies we find a complex use of information regarding the problem at hand. Here we present a hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm that outperforms previous approaches in terms of effectiveness and compares well in terms of efficiency. Our algorithm is conceptual and simple, featuring a GRASP-like (GRASP stands for Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) mechanism for genotype-to-phenotype mapping, and without considering any specific knowledge of the problem. Therefore, we provide a simple algorithm that harnesses generality while boosting performance.