POEtic Tissue: An Integrated Architecture for Bio-inspired Hardware

Abstract

It is clear to all, after a moments thought, that nature has much we might be inspired by when designing our systems, for example: robustness, adaptability and complexity, to name a few. The implementation of bio-inspired systems in hardware has however been limited, and more often than not been more a matter of artistry than engineering. The reasons for this are many, but one of the main problems has always been the lack of a universal platform, and of a proper methodology for the implementation of such systems. The ideas presented in this paper are early results of a new research project, "Reconfigurable POEtic Tissue". The goal of the project is the development of a hardware platform capable of implementing systems inspired by all the three major axes (phylogenesis, ontogenesis, and epigenesis) of bio-inspiration, in digital hardware.

MOVE Processors That Self-replicate and Differentiate

“…All of these models, to a greater or lesser extent have been used as a source of inspiration for the development of computing machines (such as the ontogenesis in the Embryonics project or epigenesis for artificial neural networks) but before the POEtic project [1,2], no hardware substrate had been developed that could combine the three axes of bio-inspiration into one single circuit. Indeed, the POEtic tissue draws inspiration from these three axes and from the multi-cellular structure of complex biological organisms.…”

“…To illustrate this process, we will use a simple system that implements a watch counter using four processors. The system has been realized in a slightly modified version of the POEtic tissue [1,2], a reconfigurable logic circuit structure especially designed for bio-inspired applications that will be presented in section 2.2.…”

“…This article describes an implementation of a basic multiprocessor system that exhibits replication and differentiation abilities on the POEtic tissue, a programmable hardware designed for bio-inspired applications [1,2] . As for a living organism, whose existence starts with only one cell that first divides, our system begins with only one totipotent processor, able to implement any of the cells required by the final organism, which can also fully replicate itself, using the functionalities of the POEtic substrate.…”

Evolution of Embodied Intelligence

“…At EPFL, in collaboration with other European partners [36], we are pushing even further the analogy between silicon devices and biological cells in the attempt to create an electronic tissue capable of evolution, self-organisation, and self-repair (http://www.poetictissue.org). The electronic tissue is multi-cellular surface composed of several tiny re-configurable electronic circuits that can be attached or detached while the tissue is in operation.…”

Evolving Genetic Regulatory Networks for Hardware Fault Tolerance

“…The system is targeted for a new bio-inspired hardware chip called POEtic tissue, able to implement the three distinguished ways of biological adaptation: evolution, growth and learning [6]. Each chip can be used to implement a particular combination of these adaptation methods.…”