I485/I585: Biologically Inspired Computing Biological organisms cope with the demands of their environments using solutions quite unlike the traditional human-engineered approaches to problem solving. Biological systems tend to be adaptive, reactive, and distributed. Bio-inspired computing is a field devoted to tackling complex problems using computational methods modeled after design principles encountered in nature. This course is strongly grounded on the foundations of complex systems and theoretical biology. Aims: Students will be introduced to fundamental topics in bio-inspired computing, and build up their proficiency in the application of various algorithms in real-world problems. Pre-requisites: INFO-I 211, or CSCI-C 212, or CSCI-H 212, or Instructor approval. What is Life?
An Evolutionary Architecture - John Frazer Exhibition The exhibition accompanying the launch of the book was unique in not only having a virtual version available on the internet, but also in achieving the first ever online virtual interaction with the development of an evolving form in a remote exhibition. A model of the system, called the Interactivator, allowed both virtual and actual visitors to make selections or propose (via a bank of switches) genetic information to influence the evolution of the form. The development of specific instances of the form was also influenced by the physical environment of the exhibition space, as detected by data from sensors of temperature, humidity, noise, smoke level and so forth. The Interactivator could also reproduce itself by allowing the program of the model to be downloaded to remote sites. As it replicated itself each replication took on a divergent evolutionary path, the results of which could also be fed back to the central model to contribute to the gene pool.
Randall D. Beer Dr. Paul Williams Research Interests My primary research interest is in understanding how coordinated behavior arises from the dynamical interaction of an animal's nervous system, its body and its environment. Toward this end, I work on the evolution and analysis of dynamical "nervous systems" for model agents, neuromechanical modeling of animals, biologically-inspired robotics, and dynamical systems approaches to behavior and cognition. More generally, I am interested in computational and theoretical biology, including models of metabolism, gene regulation and development. Recent Publications (Complete publications here) Izquierdo, E.J., Williams, P.L. and Beer, R.D. Agmon, E., Gates, A.J., Churavy, V. and Beer, R.D. Beer, R.D. Beer, R.D. and Williams, P.L. Beer, R.D. Beer, R.D. (2014). Beer, R.D. (2014). Agmon, E. and Beer, R.D. (2014). Izquierdo, E.J., Aguilera, M. and Beer, R.D. (2013). Williams, P. and Beer, R.D. (2013). Izquierdo, E.J. and Beer, R.D. (2013). Software Dynamica
Architecture in Formation | AA Bookshop Edited by Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa and Aaron Sprecher Featuring essays by Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa, Aaron Sprecher, Georges Teyssot, Mario Carpo, Patrik Schumacher, Bernard Cache, Mark Linder, David Theodore, Evan Douglis, Ingeborg Rocker and Christian Lange, Antoine Picon, Michael Wen-Sen Su, Chris Perry, Alexis Meier, Achim Menges and Martin Bressani, and interviews with George Legendre, Alessandra Ponte, Karl Chu, CiroNajle, and Greg Lynn. Architecture in Formation is the first digital architecture manual that bridges multiple relationships between theory and practice, proposing a vital resource to structure the upcoming second digital revolution. Sixteen essays from practitioners, historians and theorists look at how information processing informs and is informed by architecture. Twenty-nine experimental projects propose radical means to inform the new upcoming digital architecture.
ECAL 2011, 20th anniversary edition. Back to the origins of ALife Inside Smartgeometry Inside Smartgeometry: Expanding the Architectural Possibilities of Computational Design Edited by Brady Peters and Terri Peters On behalf of the Smartgeometry group, we would like to invite you to the launch of "Inside Smartgeometry: Expanding the Architectural Possibilities of Computational Design" edited by Brady and Terri Peters and published by John Wiley & Sons. The richly illustrated, hard cover book features 24 original texts from members of the SG community. To celebrate the book´s release, join us for drinks and a few words by the Smartgeometry Directors. 21 March 2013 6.30 pm The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, Royal Ear Hospital Ground Floor, Capper Street (corner of Huntley Street) London, WC1E 6AP Smartgeometry (SG) is a key influence on the architectural community who explore creative computational methods for the design of buildings. Contributors of original text include: Robert Aish Martin Bechthold Mark Burry Chris Williams Robert Woodbury Featuring projects by: Design2Production
The Foundation for Science and Technology Structure in nature is a strategy for design As we already wrote in previous posts, observing Natural phenomena and structures might be a tremendous source of inspiration for architects. Nature has the talent to solve functional and constructional problems with zero net energy consumption using adaptivity to local conditions as an ultimate survival strategy. Architects can provide the same functional and energy efficiency for buildings by using similar design principles or analysing natural models … and this is not just a formal reproduction- this is a design strategy. Many architects were inspired by Nature. Do you want to know where I found my model? While designing the Sagrada Familia, in order to evolve a structure in equilibrium, Gaudi designed catenary cord models with weights that transformed the hanging curves into funicular polygonal elements from which the masons took measurements. Photo courtesy of Suzie Many others use the same strategy: Frei Otto, Arata Izozaki, Cecil Balmond to name a few… - Aranda/Lasch furniture Nice
Commission européenne : CORDIS : Nouvelles : Appel à un changement radical dans l'enseignement des sciences Appel à un changement radical dans l'enseignement des sciences [Date: 2007-06-13] Selon le groupe à haut niveau sur l'enseignement des sciences, une approche radicalement nouvelle de l'enseignement des sciences est nécessaire si nous voulons enrayer le déclin de l'intérêt des écoliers européens pour les sciences. Le groupe d'experts a été créé l'année passée par les commissaires européens Janez Potocnik et Jan Figel', respectivement en charge de la recherche et de l'éducation, de la formation, de la culture et de la jeunesse. Il était chargé d'identifier les meilleures pratiques susceptibles d'accroître l'intérêt des jeunes pour les sciences. La recommandation principale du groupe concerne un revirement de l'enseignement des sciences dans les écoles pour passer d'une méthode principalement déductive à une méthode basée sur le questionnement. Les auteurs du rapport demandent une meilleure articulation entre les activités nationales et celles financées au niveau européen.
Devert2012 As a goodie: a bibtex file that reference all my publications. A Study on Scalable Representations for Evolutionary Optimization of Ground Structures Accepted for publication in Evolutionary Computation, to appear. Robustness and the Halting Problem for Multi-Cellular Artificial Ontogeny Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, June 2011. When and why development is needed: generative and developmental systems Accepted for publication at GECCO 2009, Montreal, Québec, Canada, 2009. Artificial Ontogeny for Truss Structure Design Accepted for publication at Workshop on Spatial Computing (SCW), at the second IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, Venice, Italy, 2008. Unsupervised Learning of Echo State Networks: A Case Study in Artificial Embryogeny Accepted for publication at EA 2007, Tour, France, October 29-31th 2007. Robust Multi-Cellular Developmental Design
GECCO 2011 Best Paper Award Winners Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence An Incremental ACOR with Local Search for Continuous Optimization Problems Tianjun Liao (IRIDIA, CoDE, Universite Libre de Bruxelles), Marco Montes de Oca (IRIDIA, CoDE, Universite Libre de Bruxelles), Dogan Aydin (Ege University), Thomas Stützle (IRIDIA, CoDE, Universite Libre de Bruxelles), Marco Dorigo (IRIDIA, CoDE, Universite Libre de Bruxelles) Artificial Life/Robotics/Evolvable Hardware Spontaneous Evolution of Structural Modularity in Robot Neural Network Controllers Josh Bongard (University of Vermont) Bioinformatics, Computational, Systems, and Synthetic Biology A Genetic Algorithm to Enhance Transmembrane Helices Topology Prediction Using Compositional Index Nazar Zaki (UAE University), Salah Bouktif (UAE University), Sanja Molnar (UAE University) Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts Evolutionary Combinatorial Optimization and Metaheuristics Estimation of Distribution Algorithms Genetic Algorithms Theory 1.