Cracking the Egg: Virtual Embryogenesis of Real
Robots
Artificial Life, 20 (3):
361--383 (July 2014)DOI: 10.1162/artl_a_00136
Abstract
Abstract All multicellular living beings are created
from a single cell. A developmental process, called
embryogenesis, takes this first fertilized cell down a
complex path of reproduction, migration, and
specialization into a complex organism adapted to its
environment. In most cases, the first steps of the
embryogenesis take place in a protected environment
such as in an egg or in utero. Starting from this
observation, we propose a new approach to the
generation of real robots, strongly inspired by living
systems. Our robots are composed of tens of specialized
cells, grown from a single cell using a bio-inspired
virtual developmental process. Virtual cells,
controlled by gene regulatory networks, divide,
migrate, and specialize to produce the robotʼs body
plan (morphology), and then the robot is manually built
from this plan. Because the robot is as easy to
assemble as Lego, the building process could be easily
automated.