Self-Organization of Topological Structures by a Cellular Automaton

Conclusions

We proposed the cellular automaton model based on remodeling of living systems. The computational results showed that the model has an ability to generate various biomimetic topological structures. The initial distribution of Young’s modulus greatly affects the topological formation. The formation is uniquely determined once the mechanical conditions are given. However, it is difficult to predict the final topological structure. These features suggest to us that a distributed mechanical system has potentiality to generate various topological structures and the potentiality is related with diversity of life.

The proposed method is not effective in the meaning of a structural design because the method needs a lot of calculation time compared with an optimization method based on sensitive analysis. However, the method will be a useful tool to explore a world of topological structures and to examine branch bifurcation mechanisms in the structural formation. It is also applicable to examine mechanisms of actual remodeling process such as healing of a broken bone adding new functions which are expected to be described by local rules.