Morphogenetic robotics generally refers to the methodologies that address challenges in robotics inspired by biological morphogenesis

Morphogenesis

Morphogenesis , is the biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape...

.

The term morphogenetic robotics was first coined in a project discussion in 2009 by Yaochu Jin and his colleague who first published a formalized definition of morphogenetic robotics.

Differences to epigenetic

Morphogenetic robotics is related to, but differs from, epigenetic robotics. The main difference between morphogenetic robotics and epigenetic robotics is that the former focuses on self-organization

Self-organization

Self-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears in a system without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning...

, self-reconfiguration, self-assembly and self-adaptive control of robots using genetic and cellular mechanisms inspired from biological early morphogenesis (activity-independent development), during which the body and controller of the organisms are developed simultaneously, whereas the latter emphasizes the development of robots' cognitive capabilities, such as language, emotion and social skills, through experience during the lifetime (activity-dependent development). Morphogenetic robotics is closely connected to developmental biology

Developmental biology

Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...

 and systems biology

Systems biology

Systems biology is a term used to describe a number of trends in bioscience research, and a movement which draws on those trends. Proponents describe systems biology as a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on complex interactions in biological systems, claiming that it uses...

, whilst epigenetic robotics is related to developmental cognitive neuroscience

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Developmental cognitive neuroscience is an interdisciplinary scientific field at the boundaries of neuroscience, psychology, social neuroscience, developmental science, and cognitive science.-Origins of the discipline:...

 emerged from cognitive science

Cognitive science

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...

, developmental psychology

Developmental psychology

Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...

 and neuroscience

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

.

Topics

Morphogenetic robotics includes, but is not limited to the following main topics:

• "Morphogenetic swarm robotics" deals with the self-organization of multi-robots using genetic and cellular mechanisms governing the biological early morphogenesis;
• "Morphogenetic modular robots" are when modular robots adapt their configuration autonomously using morphogenetic principles;
• "Developmental approaches" deals with the design of the body plan of robots, such as sensors and actuators, as well as the design of the controller, e.g., a neural controller using a generative coding gene regulatory network model.

See also

• Artificial life
  Artificial life
  Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986...
  
  
• Cognitive robotics
  Cognitive robotics
  a robot is a robot device that is built from inanimate matter. Its behavior in response to the environment is deterministic, based on how the robot was designed. Cognition is the process of acquiring and using knowledge about the world for goal-oriented purposes, such as survival...
  
  
• Developmental robotics
  Developmental robotics
  Developmental Robotics , sometimes called epigenetic robotics, is a methodology that uses metaphors from neural development and developmental psychology to develop the mind for autonomous robots. The focus is on a single or multiple robots going through stages of autonomous mental development...
  
  
• Evolutionary robotics
  Evolutionary robotics
  Evolutionary robotics is a methodology that uses evolutionary computation to develop controllers for autonomous robots. Algorithms in ER frequently operate on populations of candidate controllers, initially selected from some distribution. This population is then repeatedly modified according to...
  
  
• Evolutionary developmental robotics
  Evolutionary developmental robotics
  Evolutionary developmental robotics , formally suggested and fully discussed in, and further discussed in a Dialog refers to methodologies that systematically integrate evolutionary robotics, epigenetic robotics and morphogenetic robotics to study the evolution, physical and mental development and...
  
  

External links

• A website on Morphogenetic Robotics maintained by Prof. Yaochu Jin
• European Projects: Symbiotic Evolutionary Robot Organisms (SYMBRION)and Robotic Evolutionary Self-Programming and Self-Assembling Organisms (REPLICATOR)
• Laboratory of Intelligent Systems of Prof. Dario Floriano
• Cornell Computational Synthesis Laboratory of Prof. Hod Lipson
• Dynamic and Evolutionary Machine Organization Lab of Prof. John Pollack