Morphogenetic robotics[1] generally refers to the methodologies that address challenges in robotics inspired by biological
morphogenesis.[2][3]
Background
Differences to epigenetic
Morphogenetic robotics is related to, but differs from,
epigenetic robotics. The main difference between morphogenetic robotics and epigenetic robotics is that the former focuses on
self-organization, self-reconfiguration, self-assembly and self-adaptive control of robots using genetic and cellular mechanisms inspired from biological early morphogenesis (activity-independent development), during which the body and controller of the organisms are developed simultaneously, whereas the latter emphasizes the development of robots' cognitive capabilities, such as language, emotion and social skills, through experience during the lifetime (activity-dependent development). Morphogenetic robotics is closely connected to
developmental biology and
systems biology, whilst epigenetic robotics is related to
developmental cognitive neuroscience emerged from
cognitive science,
developmental psychology and
neuroscience.
Topics
Morphogenetic robotics includes, but is not limited to the following main topics:
"Morphogenetic swarm robotics" deals with the self-organization of multi-robots using genetic and cellular mechanisms governing the biological early morphogenesis;[4][5][6][7][8][9]
"Morphogenetic
modular robots" are when modular robots adapt their configuration autonomously using morphogenetic principles;[10][11]
"Developmental approaches" deals with the design of the body plan of robots, such as sensors and actuators, as well as the design of the controller, e.g., a neural controller using a generative coding [12] gene regulatory network model.[13][14][15][16][17]
^T. Schmickl, J. Stradner, H. Hamann, and K. Crailsheim.
Major Feedbacks that Support Artificial Evolution in Multi-Modular Robotics. Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Exploring New Horizons in Evolutionary Design of Robots Workshop, Oct. 11-15 2009, St. Louis, MO, USA, pp. 65-72