We suggest that the influence of biology in ‘biologically inspired robotics’ can be embraced at a... more We suggest that the influence of biology in ‘biologically inspired robotics’ can be embraced at a deeper level than is typical, if we adopt an enactive approach that moves the focus of interest from how problems are solved to how problems emerge in the first place. In addition to being inspired by mechanisms found in natural systems or by evolutionary design principles directed at solving problems posited by the environment, we can take inspiration from the precarious, self-maintaining organization of living systems to investigate forms of cognition that are also precarious and self-maintaining and that thus also, like life, have their own problems that must be be addressed if they are to persist. In this vein, we use a simulation to explore precarious, self-reinforcing sensorimotor habits as a building block for a robot's behavior. Our simulations of simple robots controlled by an Iterative Deformable Sensorimotor Medium demonstrate the spontaneous emergence of different habits...
Recent empirical work has characterized motile oil droplets —small, self-propelled oil droplets w... more Recent empirical work has characterized motile oil droplets —small, self-propelled oil droplets whose active surface chemistry moves them through their aqueous environment. Previous work has evaluated in detail the fluid dynamics underlying the motility of these droplets. This paper introduces a new computational model that is used to evaluate the behaviour of these droplets as a form of viability-based adaptive self-preservation , whereby (i) the mechanism of motility causes motion towards the conditions beneficial to that mechanism’s persistence; and (ii) the behaviour automatically adapts to compensate when the motility mechanism’s ideal operating conditions change. The model simulates a motile oil droplet as a disc that moves through a two-dimensional spatial environment containing diffusing chemicals. The concentration of reactants on its surface change by way of chemical reactions, diffusion, Marangoni flow (the equilibriation of surface tension) and exchange with the droplet’...
It has been shown that it is possible to transform a well-stirred chemical medium into a logic ga... more It has been shown that it is possible to transform a well-stirred chemical medium into a logic gate simply by varying the chemistry's external conditions (feed rates, lighting conditions, etc.). We extend this work, showing that the same method can be generalized to spatially extended systems. We vary the external conditions of a well-known chemical medium (a cubic autocatalytic reaction–diffusion model), so that different regions of the simulated chemistry are operating under particular conditions at particular times. In so doing, we are able to transform the initially uniform chemistry, not just into a single logic gate, but into a functionally integrated network of diverse logic gates that operate as a basic computational circuit known as a full-adder.
Introduction We design a novel dynamical system of a protocell (PC) that exhibits metabolism-base... more Introduction We design a novel dynamical system of a protocell (PC) that exhibits metabolism-based behavior, based on a previous model developed by Egbert et al. (2009). The original model was instantiated in an environment of artificial chemistry, and was used to explore how a system could modulate its behaviour in response to the implicit viability that arose from the system itself. It was simulated on a particulate level; i.e. with the simulation of spatially embedded particles in a two-dimensional environment, undergoing Brownian motion. The PC consisted of a membrane enclosing various metabolites, and would demonstrate metabolism-based behavior that would maintain its viability. We recreate this model using ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which leads to some simplifications. The concentrations of various metabolites, as well as the spatial location, become functions of time. We study the various behaviors that emerge from the interaction of the PC with two food sources, both necessary to produce and sustain motility, so another aspect of the simplification results in us using only one spatial dimension. However, having the model as a set of ODEs allows us to use the rich tools of dynamical systems analysis to see how various behaviours vary with the alteration of parameters. Further, we investigate the health of these behaviors using the concept of a virtual gradient.
This is a report on the Biological Foundations of Enactivism Workshop, which was held as part of ... more This is a report on the Biological Foundations of Enactivism Workshop, which was held as part of Artificial Life XV. The workshop aimed to revisit enactivism's contributions to biology and to revitalize the discussion of autonomy with the goal of grounding it in quantitative definitions based in observable phenomena. This report summarizes some of the important issues addressed in the workshop's talks and discussions, which include how to identify emergent individuals out of an environmental background, what the roles of autonomy and normativity are in biological theory, how new autonomous agents can spontaneously emerge at the origins of life, and what science can say about subjective experience.
Life and other dissipative structures involve nonlinear dynamics that are not amenable to convent... more Life and other dissipative structures involve nonlinear dynamics that are not amenable to conventional analysis. Advances are being made in theory, modeling, and simulation techniques, but we do not have general principles for designing, controlling, stabilizing, or eliminating these systems. There is thus a need for tools that can transform high-level descriptions of these systems into useful guidance for their modification and design. In this article we introduce new methods for quantifying the viability of dissipative structures. We then present an information-theoretical approach for evaluating the quality of viability indicators, measurable quantities that covary with, and thus can be used to predict or influence, a system's viability.
Engineers, control theorists, and neuroscientists often view the delay imposed by finite signal p... more Engineers, control theorists, and neuroscientists often view the delay imposed by finite signal propagation velocities as a problem that needs to be compensated for or avoided. In this article, we consider the alternative possibility that in some cases, signal delay can be used functionally, that is, as an essential component of a cognitive system. To investigate this idea, we evolve a minimal robot controller to solve a basic stimulus-distinction task. The controller is constrained so that the solution must utilize a delayed recurrent signal. Different from previous evolutionary robotics studies, our controller is modeled using delay differential equations, which (unlike the ordinary differential equations of conventional continuous-time recurrent neural networks) can accurately capture delays in signal propagation. We analyze the evolved controller and its interaction with its environment using classical dynamical systems techniques. The analysis shows what kinds of invariant sets...
The iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM) is a controller that has been used to study hab... more The iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM) is a controller that has been used to study habits construed as self-sustaining patters of sensorimotor activity. To understand the dynamics of this controller, we investigate a heavily simplified variation of it called a node-based sensorimotor-to-motor map (NB-SMM). This deterministic, stateless, continuous-time controller coupled to a minimalistic robot and environment demonstrates six distinct categories of behaviour, including an ability to distinguish between the two sides of a symmetric stimulus, suggesting that controllers based purely on sensorimotor-state to motor mappings may be more capable than intuition first suggests. As the number of nodes increases, the potential behavioural complexity also increases. With two nodes, cycles become possible, along with systems which produce multiple behaviours depending upon initial conditions. This hints at the potential behavioural complexity of a system with many more nodes and pro...
We suggest that the influence of biology in ‘biologically inspired robotics’ can be embraced at a... more We suggest that the influence of biology in ‘biologically inspired robotics’ can be embraced at a deeper level than is typical, if we adopt an enactive approach that moves the focus of interest from how problems are solved to how problems emerge in the first place. In addition to being inspired by mechanisms found in natural systems or by evolutionary design principles directed at solving problems posited by the environment, we can take inspiration from the precarious, self-maintaining organization of living systems to investigate forms of cognition that are also precarious and self-maintaining and that thus also, like life, have their own problems that must be be addressed if they are to persist. In this vein, we use a simulation to explore precarious, self-reinforcing sensorimotor habits as a building block for a robot's behavior. Our simulations of simple robots controlled by an Iterative Deformable Sensorimotor Medium demonstrate the spontaneous emergence of different habits...
Recent empirical work has characterized motile oil droplets —small, self-propelled oil droplets w... more Recent empirical work has characterized motile oil droplets —small, self-propelled oil droplets whose active surface chemistry moves them through their aqueous environment. Previous work has evaluated in detail the fluid dynamics underlying the motility of these droplets. This paper introduces a new computational model that is used to evaluate the behaviour of these droplets as a form of viability-based adaptive self-preservation , whereby (i) the mechanism of motility causes motion towards the conditions beneficial to that mechanism’s persistence; and (ii) the behaviour automatically adapts to compensate when the motility mechanism’s ideal operating conditions change. The model simulates a motile oil droplet as a disc that moves through a two-dimensional spatial environment containing diffusing chemicals. The concentration of reactants on its surface change by way of chemical reactions, diffusion, Marangoni flow (the equilibriation of surface tension) and exchange with the droplet’...
It has been shown that it is possible to transform a well-stirred chemical medium into a logic ga... more It has been shown that it is possible to transform a well-stirred chemical medium into a logic gate simply by varying the chemistry's external conditions (feed rates, lighting conditions, etc.). We extend this work, showing that the same method can be generalized to spatially extended systems. We vary the external conditions of a well-known chemical medium (a cubic autocatalytic reaction–diffusion model), so that different regions of the simulated chemistry are operating under particular conditions at particular times. In so doing, we are able to transform the initially uniform chemistry, not just into a single logic gate, but into a functionally integrated network of diverse logic gates that operate as a basic computational circuit known as a full-adder.
Introduction We design a novel dynamical system of a protocell (PC) that exhibits metabolism-base... more Introduction We design a novel dynamical system of a protocell (PC) that exhibits metabolism-based behavior, based on a previous model developed by Egbert et al. (2009). The original model was instantiated in an environment of artificial chemistry, and was used to explore how a system could modulate its behaviour in response to the implicit viability that arose from the system itself. It was simulated on a particulate level; i.e. with the simulation of spatially embedded particles in a two-dimensional environment, undergoing Brownian motion. The PC consisted of a membrane enclosing various metabolites, and would demonstrate metabolism-based behavior that would maintain its viability. We recreate this model using ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which leads to some simplifications. The concentrations of various metabolites, as well as the spatial location, become functions of time. We study the various behaviors that emerge from the interaction of the PC with two food sources, both necessary to produce and sustain motility, so another aspect of the simplification results in us using only one spatial dimension. However, having the model as a set of ODEs allows us to use the rich tools of dynamical systems analysis to see how various behaviours vary with the alteration of parameters. Further, we investigate the health of these behaviors using the concept of a virtual gradient.
This is a report on the Biological Foundations of Enactivism Workshop, which was held as part of ... more This is a report on the Biological Foundations of Enactivism Workshop, which was held as part of Artificial Life XV. The workshop aimed to revisit enactivism's contributions to biology and to revitalize the discussion of autonomy with the goal of grounding it in quantitative definitions based in observable phenomena. This report summarizes some of the important issues addressed in the workshop's talks and discussions, which include how to identify emergent individuals out of an environmental background, what the roles of autonomy and normativity are in biological theory, how new autonomous agents can spontaneously emerge at the origins of life, and what science can say about subjective experience.
Life and other dissipative structures involve nonlinear dynamics that are not amenable to convent... more Life and other dissipative structures involve nonlinear dynamics that are not amenable to conventional analysis. Advances are being made in theory, modeling, and simulation techniques, but we do not have general principles for designing, controlling, stabilizing, or eliminating these systems. There is thus a need for tools that can transform high-level descriptions of these systems into useful guidance for their modification and design. In this article we introduce new methods for quantifying the viability of dissipative structures. We then present an information-theoretical approach for evaluating the quality of viability indicators, measurable quantities that covary with, and thus can be used to predict or influence, a system's viability.
Engineers, control theorists, and neuroscientists often view the delay imposed by finite signal p... more Engineers, control theorists, and neuroscientists often view the delay imposed by finite signal propagation velocities as a problem that needs to be compensated for or avoided. In this article, we consider the alternative possibility that in some cases, signal delay can be used functionally, that is, as an essential component of a cognitive system. To investigate this idea, we evolve a minimal robot controller to solve a basic stimulus-distinction task. The controller is constrained so that the solution must utilize a delayed recurrent signal. Different from previous evolutionary robotics studies, our controller is modeled using delay differential equations, which (unlike the ordinary differential equations of conventional continuous-time recurrent neural networks) can accurately capture delays in signal propagation. We analyze the evolved controller and its interaction with its environment using classical dynamical systems techniques. The analysis shows what kinds of invariant sets...
The iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM) is a controller that has been used to study hab... more The iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM) is a controller that has been used to study habits construed as self-sustaining patters of sensorimotor activity. To understand the dynamics of this controller, we investigate a heavily simplified variation of it called a node-based sensorimotor-to-motor map (NB-SMM). This deterministic, stateless, continuous-time controller coupled to a minimalistic robot and environment demonstrates six distinct categories of behaviour, including an ability to distinguish between the two sides of a symmetric stimulus, suggesting that controllers based purely on sensorimotor-state to motor mappings may be more capable than intuition first suggests. As the number of nodes increases, the potential behavioural complexity also increases. With two nodes, cycles become possible, along with systems which produce multiple behaviours depending upon initial conditions. This hints at the potential behavioural complexity of a system with many more nodes and pro...
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Papers by Matthew Egbert