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Biomorphic Software

Posted by michael on from the it's-alive dept.

CowboyRobot writes "From the molecular structure of spiders' silk to the efficient use of energy by insects and fish, we can learn many things from Nature and apply them to our engineering tasks. One thing that nature is particularly good at is the development of dynamic, self-organizing systems. Ken Lodding is a software engineer at NASA and is currently developing 'swarm algorithms for groups of wind-driven, remote exploratory vehicles'. He has a six-page article at Queue on 'biologically inspired computing', how to develop 'algorithmic design concepts distilled from biological systems, or processes.'"

7 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Great... by xenostar · · Score: 3, Funny

    All we need is wild packs of stray 'exploratory vehicles' rummaging through the garbage at night.

  2. The Biomorphic Goldfish Algorithm by march · · Score: 5, Funny

    10 SWIM AROUND TANK
    20 PRINT "LOOK A ROCK!"
    30 GOTO 10

    1. Re:The Biomorphic Goldfish Algorithm by sdjunky · · Score: 4, Funny

      'Updated Visual Basic version
      Public Sub Initialize
      Dim GFish as Fish
      Set GFish = Me
      GFish.Type = FISH_TYPES_GOLDFISH
      Tank.AddFish(GFish)
      GFish.Action = FISH_ACTIONS_SWIM
      GFish.InitTimedAction(FISH_ACTIONS_LOOK_ROCK,60000 )
      GFish.Go()
      End Sub

      Public Sub Terminate
      Dim GFish as Fish
      Set GFish = Me
      GFish.Rotate(0,1,0,180)
      GFish.Float(FISH_BALLAST_UP)
      GFish.Eyes = FISH_EYES_MILKY
      GFish.Wait(60000)
      Toilet.AddFish(GFish)
      Toilet.Flush()
      End Sub

  3. Alien Engineers by ReadbackMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny


    I read things like this and can't help but thing about some alien engineers coming to earth, deciding that they don't have time to explore it properly, and plop down some solar powered "robots" to gather some data on the planet. A few millenia pass and some more alien engineers come by, having the same idea but being jerks, deciding to make "robots" that eat the solar powered "robots".

    Jerks.

    1. Re:Alien Engineers by tgrigsby · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's not so bad, really. The solar powered ones are still doing ok. The robots that eat the solar powered ones are flourishing as well. And there are even robots that eat those robots and so on. It's actually worked out alright, although the latest release of robots seems destined to eat every other robot and even themselves. But even those aren't the worst.

      It's the robots that attempt to charge people a licensing fee for using Linux that really burn me up.

      --
      *** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
  4. lastest hope for nerds by prgrmr · · Score: 3, Funny

    how to develop 'algorithmic design concepts distilled from biological systems, or processes.'

    Does this mean we can expect the whole dating-and-mating process to be reduced to an algorythm? Does the average slashdotter now have reason to have hope to apsire to procreation?

  5. Perceptrons? by grunt107 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Didn't they clash with the autobots?