Design Principles of Morpho-functional Machines

  • Fumio Hara
  • Kohki Kikuchi
Conference paper

Abstract

This paper introduces the notion of morpho-functional machines (Hara et al., 1998) and discusses the elementary constituents of morpho-functional machine. The discussions make it clarify the scientific and technological concept about morpho-functional machines that can lead us to in-depth understanding of adaptive behavior in biological systems and also to design principles of artifact adaptive systems. In contrast to most traditional approaches to adaptive systems which focus on the adaptive potential of the neural substrate (or the control architecture), morpho-functional machines capitalize on the inter-relation between morphology, materials, and control (Pfeifer, 1999). They adapt to the environment not only by means of neural mechanisms, but also by changing their morphology. As is well-known from biology there is much adaptive potential in the morphology of the body, the sensor systems and the motor systems. Moreover, the choice of materials crucially determines the kind of control on the one hand and the types of potential morphologies on the other.

The essential feature of inter-relation among morphology, materials and control is briefly illustrated by three examples in which the key questions to designing morpho-functional machines will be pointed out. Then we discuss the ecological balance of these three elementary constituents of the morpho-functional machine or economics of resources in designing morpho-functional machines. Then seven design principles are pointed out and discussed thoroughly. We then propose automated evolutionary design methodology by taking an example of co-design of robotic body and control architecture. We conclude the paper by discussing the importance of ecological balance and design principles for shaping the embodied intelligence into morpho-functional machines.

Key words

Morpho-functional machines Morphology and materials Ecological balance Design principles Automated evolutionary design 
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Copyright information

© Springer Japan 2003

Authors and Affiliations

  • Fumio Hara
    • 1
  • Kohki Kikuchi
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Mechanical EngineeringTokyo University of ScienceTokyoJapan

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