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Logical Gates and Circuits Implemented in Slime Mould

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Advances in Physarum Machines

Part of the book series: Emergence, Complexity and Computation ((ECC,volume 21))

Abstract

We overview families of Boolean logical gates and circuits implemented in computer models and experimental laboratory prototypes of computing devices made of living slime mould Physarum polycephalum. These include attraction gates, based on chemo-tactic behaviour of slime mould; ballistic gates, employing inertial movement of the slime mould’s active zones and a repulsion between growing zones; repellent gates, exploited photo avoidance of P. polycephalum; frequency gates, based on modification of electrical potential oscillations frequency in protoplasmic tubes; fluidic gates, where a tactical response of the protoplasmic tubes is used for the actuation of two- and four-input logical gates and memory devices; and circuits based on quantitative transformations which completely avoids spatial propagation, branching and crossings in the design of circuits.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    LEDs were chosen as the repellent input due to their comparative energy efficiency, long life span and low cost of manufacture, all of which are key properties for alternative computing technologies.

  2. 2.

    Experiments are done by Theresa Schubert, Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Andrew Adamatzky, Jeff Jones, Richard Mayne & James Whiting

  2. School of Chemisty, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Soichiro Tsuda

Authors
  1. Andrew Adamatzky
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  2. Jeff Jones
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  3. Richard Mayne
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  4. Soichiro Tsuda
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  5. James Whiting
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Correspondence to Andrew Adamatzky .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Andrew Adamatzky

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Adamatzky, A., Jones, J., Mayne, R., Tsuda, S., Whiting, J. (2016). Logical Gates and Circuits Implemented in Slime Mould. In: Adamatzky, A. (eds) Advances in Physarum Machines. Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26662-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26662-6_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26661-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26662-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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