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A Moment of Convergence: how nature innovates through agents, swarms and algorithms

Soar, Rupert (2019)
Abstract
Beyond Biomimicry! We are at a threshold where technology and life converge, where living machines modify and adapt the environments that they construct and persist within. Who is working at this frontier? How are scientists, engineers, programmers, designers and biologists converging to capture organismal construction algorithms from nature and play them back to emerging swarm robotic and digital fabrication platforms, where the design of genotypes and their interaction with the physical environment, produce unique and persistent phenotypes. What will this phenotechnology look like?

This is not biomimicry as mere inspiration, this is 'Hard Biomimicry', which bridges the gap between biological discovery and technology... (More)
Beyond Biomimicry! We are at a threshold where technology and life converge, where living machines modify and adapt the environments that they construct and persist within. Who is working at this frontier? How are scientists, engineers, programmers, designers and biologists converging to capture organismal construction algorithms from nature and play them back to emerging swarm robotic and digital fabrication platforms, where the design of genotypes and their interaction with the physical environment, produce unique and persistent phenotypes. What will this phenotechnology look like?

This is not biomimicry as mere inspiration, this is 'Hard Biomimicry', which bridges the gap between biological discovery and technology application. Like social swarms, phenotech and phenofab devices will create and exist within adaptive boundaries, whether this is a heat exchanger for a racing car, an adaptive skin for a skyscraper or in-situ bone regeneration. Phenotech will use feedback and learning between the genotype construction algorithm and the adaptive interface they construct (through stigmergy).

Why is this technology emerging now? Social swarms thrive where resource scarcity, competition and harsh environments must be regulated. But where we could see this as disastrous for our own future, we now understand how social swarms share resources to integrate many functions into a single fabricated solution. This is an aggressive process, something we have socially evolved beyond, but it is the perfect place for phenotech... (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
contributor
LU ; Turner, J. Scott ; Mahadevan, L. ; Petersen, Kirstin ; Vincent, Julian ; Pawlyn, Michael ; Pearce, Mick ; Maritz, Nina ; Grüber, Petra ; Werfel, Justin and Bardunias, Paul
organization
publishing date
type
Non-textual form
publication status
published
subject
keywords
documentary, termites, Swarm construction, self-organization, architecture, construction, Biomimicry, biomimetics
publisher
Phenotech
project
bioDigital Matter
Functional Integration in 3d printed building structures
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
This is a documentary.
id
21e0e31a-268a-462c-92cd-4b1d70bdb962
alternative location
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1LbWgePCgo&t=1s
date added to LUP
2023-03-29 11:48:42
date last changed
2023-08-17 08:30:45
@misc{21e0e31a-268a-462c-92cd-4b1d70bdb962,
  abstract     = {{Beyond Biomimicry! We are at a threshold where technology and life converge, where living machines modify and adapt the environments that they construct and persist within.  Who is working at this frontier?  How are scientists, engineers, programmers, designers and biologists converging to capture organismal construction algorithms from nature and play them back to emerging swarm robotic and digital fabrication platforms, where the design of genotypes and their interaction with the physical environment, produce unique and persistent phenotypes.  What will this phenotechnology look like?  <br/><br/>This is not biomimicry as mere inspiration, this is 'Hard Biomimicry', which bridges the gap between biological discovery and technology application.  Like social swarms, phenotech and phenofab devices will create and exist within adaptive boundaries, whether this is a heat exchanger for a racing car, an adaptive skin for a skyscraper or in-situ bone regeneration.  Phenotech will use feedback and learning between the genotype construction algorithm and the adaptive interface they construct (through stigmergy).   <br/><br/>Why is this technology emerging now? Social swarms thrive where resource scarcity, competition and harsh environments must be regulated.   But where we could see this as disastrous for our own future, we now understand how social swarms share resources to integrate many functions into a single fabricated solution.  This is an aggressive process, something we have socially evolved beyond, but it is the perfect place for phenotech...}},
  author       = {{Soar, Rupert}},
  keywords     = {{documentary; termites; Swarm construction; self-organization; architecture; construction; Biomimicry; biomimetics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  publisher    = {{Phenotech}},
  title        = {{A Moment of Convergence: how nature innovates through agents, swarms and algorithms}},
  url          = {{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1LbWgePCgo&t=1s}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}