Overview

Traditional engineered products are generally made of a number of unique, heterogeneous components assembled in complicated but precise ways, and are intended to work deterministically following specifications given by their designers. By contrast, self-organization in natural complex systems (physical, biological, ecological, social) often emerges from the repetition of agents obeying identical rules under stochastic dynamics. These systems produce relatively regular patterns (spots, stripes, waves, trails, clusters, hubs, etc.) that can be characterized by a small number of statistical variables. They are random and/or shaped by boundary conditions, but do not exhibit an intrinsic architecture like engineered products do.

Two salient exceptions, however, strikingly demonstrate the possibility of combining pure self-organization and elaborate architectures: biological development (the self-assembly of myriads of cells into the body plans and appendages of organisms) and insect constructions (the stigmergic collaboration of colonies of social insects toward large and complicated nests). These structures are composed of segments and parts arranged in very specific ways that resemble the products of human inventiveness. Yet, they entirely self-assemble in a decentralized fashion, under the control of genetic or behavioral rules stored in every agent.

How do these collectives (cells or insects) achieve such impressive morphogenetic tasks so reliably? Can we export their precise self-formation capabilities to engineered systems? What are principles and best practices for the design and engineering of such morphogenetic systems?

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Organizers

• René Doursat, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
• Hiroki Sayama, Binghamton University, NY, US

Past Editions

This workshop is the 6th Morphogenetic Engineering Workshop or Special Session (MEW) of its kind. It follows:

• the 1st MEW (2009), which was held at the
  Complex Systems Institute, Paris (ISC-PIF) on June 19, 2009
  
  
• the 2nd MEW (2010), which was held as a special session of the
  7th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence (ANTS 2010) in Brussels, on September 10, 2010
  
  
• the 3rd MEW (2011), which was held as a satellite workshop of the
  11th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL'11) in Paris, on August 12, 2011
  
  
• the 4th MEW (2014), which was held as a satellite workshop of the
  14th International Conference on Artificial Life (Alife XIV) in New York, on July 31, 2014
  
  
• the 5th MEW (2015), which was held as a special session of the
  13th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL'15) in York, on July 20, 2015

References

• Doursat, R., Sayama, H. & Michel, O. (2013) A review of morphogenetic engineering. "Frontiers of Natural Computing" (FNC 2012) Special Issue. M. Lones, A. Tyrrell, S. Stepney & L. Caves, eds. Natural Computing 12(2): 517-535 [19 pages]. PAPER
  
  
• Doursat, R., Sayama, H. & Michel, O., eds. (2012) Morphogenetic Engineering: Toward Programmable Complex Systems. "Understanding Complex Systems" Series, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-642-33901-1 [452 pages]. OVERVIEW

Call for Abstracts (closed)

This workshop aims to promote and expand a recent field of research called "Morphogenetic Engineering", which explores the artificial design and implementation of autonomous systems capable of developing complex, heterogeneous morphologies. Particular emphasis is set on the programmability and computing abilities of self-organization, properties that are often underappreciated in complex systems science—while, conversely, the benefits of self-organization are often underappreciated in engineering methodologies.

Authors are invited to submit an abstract (up to 2 pages) on their research, or on a review and discussion about any aspect of Morphogenetic Engineering. It should be prepared following the ALife XV paper format. Contributions may be original or already published (please specify when submitting and add proper bibliographical references, if applicable). Accepted abstracts will be compiled into the Workshop Proceedings and will be published online on the Workshop website for free downloads.

Please submit your abstract in PDF by email to both organizers:

• Rene Doursat: r.doursatmmu.ac.uk
• Hiroki Sayama: sayamabinghamton.edu

Important Dates:

• Deadline for abstract submission: April 30, 2016 May 7, 2016
• Notification of acceptance: May 15, 2016
• Camera-ready abstract due: May 31, 2016
• Date of workshop: July 4, 2016

The workshop will last about 3.5 hours and the total number of speakers is limited to 6. Submissions will be reviewed based on their relevance to the workshop, clarity, and overall quality. Whether submitting or simply attending, please register via the online ALife XV conference registration system.

Topics of Interest

• New principles of morphogenesis in artificial systems
• Bio-inspiration from plant vs. animal development
• Programmability of self-organizing morphogenetic systems
• Indirect, decentralized control of morphogenetic systems
• Sensitivity to environmental/boundary conditions vs. endogenous drive
• Evolvability, by variations and selection, of morphogenetic systems
• Links with evolutionary computation, artificial embryogeny, "evo-devo" approaches
• Swarm-based approaches to morphogenetic systems
• Design techniques for morphogenetic engineering
• Causalities between micro and macro properties of morphogenetic systems
• Physical implementations
• Applications to real-world problems (swarm robots, synthetic biologie, complex networks, etc.)
• Philosophical questions about morphogenetic engineering

Registration

Registration should be made through the ALife XV website.