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Steps Towards Living Machines

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Evolutionary Robotics. From Intelligent Robotics to Artificial Life (EvoRobots 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2217))

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Abstract

We still do not understand what it is that makes living matter alive. If we did we could build living machines, but it is clear that we do not have the technology to do that today. Living machines would be able to self-reproduce, find their own sources of energy, and repair themselves to some degree. They need not necessarily be built from our standard materials, silicon and metal. Living machines will change all of our technologies with equivalent disruption as that introduced by electricity and that by plastics. Living machines will invade the fabric of our everyday lives.

There are three thrusts to trying to build living machines. First is to build robots with partial characteristics of living machines, looking for the key intellectual ideas that make them possible. The second is to use generalized evolutionary systems to investigate possible mechanisms and designs. Generalized evolutionary systems use analogs of physical processes to organize the world for evolving systems, living in that world. The third thrust is to develop a new mathematics of living systems. This new mathematics interacts with the first two thrusts in two ways. It is inspired by the first two thrusts to formalize the notions developed there. Additionally it is used to provide constraints on the design spaces in the first two thrusts, to guide the research work to the appropriate areas.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, 545 Technology Square Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Rodney A. Brooks

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  1. Rodney A. Brooks
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Applied AI Systems, Inc., 3232 Carp Road, Carp, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1L0

    Takashi Gomi

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Brooks, R.A. (2001). Steps Towards Living Machines. In: Gomi, T. (eds) Evolutionary Robotics. From Intelligent Robotics to Artificial Life. EvoRobots 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2217. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45502-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45502-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42737-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45502-8

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