[alife] Fw: [MEW'11] 3rd Morphogenetic Engineering Workshop: submit an abstract by June 6

[Hiroki Sayama]

Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement.
Please kindly help forward it to potentially interested colleagues and students.


Third International Workshop on Morphogenetic Engineering
A satellite workshop of ECAL'11: Eleventh European Conference on Artificial Life
Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris, August 12 afternoon, 2011
This workshop aims to promote a new field of research called "Morphogenetic Engineering", which explores the artificial design and implementation of autonomous systems capable of developing complex, heterogeneous morphologies. Particular emphasis is set on the programmability and controllability of self-organization, properties that are often underappreciated in complex systems science--while, conversely, the benefits of self-organization are often underappreciated in engineering methodologies.

Authors are invited to submit a 1-page abstract on their research, or on a review and discussion about any aspect of Morphogenetic Engineering. Contributions may be original or already published (please specify when submitting).


  a.. Workshop Website: http://iscpif.fr/MEW2011 
  b.. Organizing committee: Rene Doursat and Hiroki Sayama 


  a.. Featured position paper: http://www.perada-magazine.eu (cover) 
  b.. Past workshop issues: http://iscpif.fr/MEW2009 and http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/ants2010/morphogenetic_engineering.php (MEW 2010) 


Overview
Traditional engineered products are generally made of a number of unique, heterogeneous components assembled in complicated but precise ways, and are intended to work deterministically following specifications given by their designers. By contrast, self-organization in natural complex systems (physical, biological, ecological, social) often emerges from the repetition of agents obeying identical rules under stochastic dynamics. These systems produce relatively regular patterns (spots, stripes, waves, trails, clusters, hubs, etc.) that can be characterized by a small number of statistical variables. They are random and/or shaped by boundary conditions, but do not exhibit an intrinsic architecture like engineered products do.

Two salient exceptions, however, strikingly demonstrate the possibility of combining pure self-organization and elaborate architectures: biological development (the self-assembly of myriads of cells into the body plans and appendages of organisms) and insect constructions (the stigmergic collaboration of colonies of social insects toward large and complicated nests). These structures are composed of segments and parts arranged in very specific ways that resemble the products of human inventiveness. Yet, they entirely self-assemble in a decentralized fashion, under the control of genetic or behavioral rules stored in every agent.

How do these collectives (cells or insects) achieve such impressive morphogenetic tasks so reliably? Can we export their precise self-formation capabilities to engineered systems? What are principles and best practices for the design and engineering of such morphogenetic systems?


Call for Abstracts
  a.. Important Dates: 
    a.. Deadline for abstract submission: June 6 
    b.. Notification of acceptance: June 8 
    c.. Deadline for registration: June 9 for early rates, see the ECAL'11 registration system ( http://ecal11.org ) 
    d.. Workshop date: August 12 afternoon 
  b.. Abstracts should be submitted electronically via the MEW'11 workshop website. ( http://iscpif.fr/MEW2011 ) 
  c.. Submissions will be reviewed based on their relevance to the workshop, clarity, and overall quality. 
  d.. If you only want to attend without giving a presentation, please also register via the ECAL'11 registration system. ( http://ecal11.org ) 


Topics of Interest
The topics that we anticipate will include, but are not limited to:


  a.. New principles of morphogenesis in artificial systems 
  b.. Bio-inspiration from plant vs. animal development 
  c.. Programmability of self-organizing morphogenetic systems 
  d.. Indirect, decentralized control of morphogenetic systems 
  e.. Sensitivity to environmental/boundary conditions vs. endogenous drive 
  f.. Evolvability, by variations and selection, of morphogenetic systems 
  g.. Links with evolutionary computation, artificial embryogeny, "evo-devo" approaches 
  h.. Swarm-based approaches to morphogenetic systems 
  i.. Design techniques for morphogenetic engineering 
  j.. Causalities between micro and macro properties of morphogenetic systems 
  k.. Physical implementations 
  l.. Applications to real-world problems (nanotechnologies, reconfigurable robots, swarm robotics, complex networks, etc.) 
  m.. Philosophical issues on morphogenetic engineering 


Program
The details of the program will be announced once we have a list of scientists interested in presenting at the workshop. Six speakers will present their models and/or views about Morphogenetic Engineering (20mn presentation + 10mn questions). The workshop will conclude with an important 40mn round table discussion aiming to characterize this body of research and its future prospects.