Abstract
The process of morphogenesis is a natural example of genotype to phenotype mapping. As such it is relevant to evolutionary computation. A simulation of morphogenesis and cell interaction is presented, which allows embryogenesis to be addressed as an engineering problem. A space of cell control functions is defined by identifying the controlling variables and the degrees of freedom of each individual cell. These functions receive inputs dependent on a cell's context, and determine its responses to that context. Multiple cells are coupled through a simulation of a 3-D reaction-diffusion fluid matrix in order to generate interactive behaviour. The parameterised control function for the individual cells is tuned using a genetic algorithm to maximise the fitness of their collective behaviour. With use of an appropriate fitness function, the simulation is capable of producing the forms of early embryogenesis.
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Hoile, C., Tateson, R. Design by Morphogenesis. BT Technology Journal 18, 112–121 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026766911297
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026766911297