Robots That Can Adapt and Evolve
Artificial flying creatures at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab.
Blocky little robots and "flapping ornithopters" evolve and adapt at Cornell.
Engineering projects like these probably fall on the wrong side of the border between fanciful tinkering and art. But these blocky little creatures look so utterly endearing, and "flapping ornithopters" is so much fun to say, that it's impossible to resist mentioning the self-replicating robots and the robotic hummingbirds or dragonflies at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab.
Hal Lipson and the other researchers in the group have been exploring the notion of "evolutionary adaptation" -- in their own words, they're "trying to use the principles of biological evolution to automate the design of machines." But they aren't "seeking to imitate the solutions found in nature." Rather, they're just -- although saying "just" here sounds like false modesty -- trying to get machines to emulate some of the process of open-ended adaptation.
The blocky little robots are much more appealing, in their own caterpillary way, than the lab's flying machines, which display a stern Erector Set aesthetic.
But note that these projects are allegedly evolving. If the algorithms that govern the flying machines' development are smart enough, they may eventually discover that there's an evolutionary advantage to cuteness. It helps attract media attention and encourages research funding, right? So perhaps we'll end up with something as appealing as the Gump, if not as efficient as the spy planes that imitate the movement of butterflies and bees.
(A similar premise ostensibly motivates Theo Jansen's "beach animals", but I think Jansen's principle more accurately represents "intelligent design". What rough beast slouches along the Dutch shoreline? See what you think.)
