Self-replication and evolvable hardware


Prabhas Chongstitvatana
Department of Computer Engineering
Chulalongkorn University

Living organisms can reproduce.  This is perhaps the most important aspect of evolution. Jon von Neuman introduced the theory of self-reproducing automata to study the process of replication in a machine. I believe that the study of self-replicable machines will lead us to understand the principles of information processing better.  The application of self-replicable machines is far reaching, for example, an adaptive device, a self-repair device, a self-assembling device etc.  I am interested in the application of evolvable hardware to realise a self-reproducing machine.

Evolvable hardware is a marriage between reconfigurable circuits and evolutionary algorithms.  A reconfigurable device can change its wiring hence its functionality by means of changing its configuration bits.  It is possible to do so at run-time and in real-time.  An example of reconfigurable device is the field programmable gate array (FPGA) device.  Evolutionary algorithms can be applied to realise the real-time adaptation of the device, making the device adaptive and changeable.  This leads to an adaptive electronics.

In this talk I will introduce the field of self-replication.  Its historical perspective is very intriguing and exciting.  The model of computation based on cellular automata and its implication will be explained.  I will show how evolvable hardware can be realised using the current technology.  Finally, I will attempt to explore the future work in investigating self-replication using evolvable hardware.

Slide of the talk
Demo of Langton loop (in Java)
Mechanical system:  from V. Zykov, E. Mytilinaios, B. Adams and H. Lipson, Self-reproducing machines, Nature vol 435, 12 May 2005, p.163. (nature-v435-self-rep.pdf)  2 minutes video (wmv file 5 Mbytes)

Biography

Prabhas Chongstitvatana earned BEng (EE) from Kasetsart University 1980 and PhD from the department of artificial intelligence, Edinburgh University, UK, 1992.  Presently, he is with the department of computer engineering, Chulalongkorn University.  The research included robotics, evolutionary computation and computer architecture.  The current work involves bioinformatics and grid computing where he is actively promote the collaboration to create Thai national grid for scientific computing.  He believes in building the community of research in Thailand.  He is the member of Thailand Engineering Institute, Thai Academy of Science and Technology, Thai Robotics Society, Thai Embedded System Association and ECTI Association of Thailand.