EVOLVINGROBOT

Autonomous evolution of robotic organisms

Coordinatore	THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD    more  Organization address address: FIRTH COURT WESTERN BANK city: SHEFFIELD postcode: S10 2TN contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Joanne Cognome: Watson Email: send email Telefono: +44 114 222 4754 Fax: +44 114 222 1455
Nazionalità Coordinatore	United Kingdom [UK]
Totale costo	45˙000 €
EC contributo	45˙000 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG
Funding Scheme	MC-ERG
Anno di inizio	2010
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2010-09-01   -   2013-08-31

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD  Organization address address: FIRTH COURT WESTERN BANK city: SHEFFIELD postcode: S10 2TN contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Joanne Cognome: Watson Email: send email Telefono: +44 114 222 4754 Fax: +44 114 222 1455	UK (SHEFFIELD)	coordinator	45˙000.00

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'It has been observed that discrete and autonomous entities, from molecular to planetary scale, bind to each other, and thereby, organize into patterns and structures without being directed externally. The underlying process, termed self-assembly, encouraged researchers from many disciplines to study the design of modular and collective robot systems in which new entities arise autonomously by self-assembling. However, the capabilities of such systems are vastly unexplored, mainly due to shortcomings in current hardware implementations.

In this project, we design a novel type of self-assembling system that is composed of macroscopic building blocks that float in an agitated medium. The dynamism of the medium allows the blocks to physically bind with and disband from each other. This is expected to result in the emergence, reproduction, and evolution of life-like organisms. The process will be governed solely by the building block's local interactions in the absence of any blueprint or central command. It will drive the system towards a population of organisms that are adapted to their environment. Fitness, here is fully implicit, and reflects an organism's ability to reproduce. To do so, its phenotype must accumulate further building blocks and harvest enough energy from the environment to sustain itself.

The structure of the project is such that it helps the applicant to establish his own research laboratory at the host organization while at the same time build up a lasting collaboration with his previous host organization. The project will keep the applicant at the forefront of self-assembly research. The results are expected to provide a vital insight into evolutionary processes (e.g., demonstrating that non-biological matter can evolve), drive technology (e.g., observing populations of energy autonomous robots over weeks or months), and, in the medium-term, have a high impact on education (e.g., physical demonstrators of evolution in science museums).'