[alife] [MEW'14] 4th Morphogenetic Engineering Workshop: submit an abstract by May 2nd

[Rene Doursat]

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forward it to potentially interested colleagues and students.
 
 4th International Workshop on Morphogenetic Engineering 
http://iscpif.fr/MEW2014
 
 A satellite workshop of Alife 14, the 14th International
Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems 
http://blogs.cornell.edu/alife14nyc
 
 Javits Center, New York,
USA, July 31 morning, 2014 
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).
 
	Workshop Website: http://iscpif.fr/MEW2014 
	Organizers: Rene Doursat(http://doursat.free.fr) and Hiroki Sayama(http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/%7Esayama) 

 
	Featured position paper: Doursat, Sayama & Michel (2013) A review of morphogenetic engineering. Natural Computing 12(2): 517-535(http://doursat.free.fr/docs/Doursat_Sayama_Michel_2013_MorphEng_NACO.pdf) 
	Featured book: Doursat, Sayama & Michel (2012) Morphogenetic Engineering. Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-642-33901-1(http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-642-33902-8/page/1) 
	Past workshop issues: http://iscpif.fr/MEW2009, MEW 2010 at ANTS(http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/ants2010/morphogenetic_engineering.php) and http://iscpif.fr/MEW2011 

 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 
	Important Dates: 

	Deadline for abstract submission: May 2 
	Notification of acceptance: May 16 
	Deadline for registration: June 13 for early rates 
	-- see Alife 14 conference registration(http://blogs.cornell.edu/alife14nyc/registration/) ( http://blogs.cornell.edu/alife14nyc/registration/ ) 
	Workshop date: Thursday, July 31 morning


 
	Abstracts should be submitted electronically via the MEW'14 workshop website(http://iscpif.fr/MEW2014Submission). ( http://iscpif.fr/MEW2014 ) 
	Submissions will be reviewed based on their relevance to the workshop, clarity, and overall quality. 
	If you only want to attend without giving a presentation, please also register via the Alife 14 conference registration(http://blogs.cornell.edu/alife14nyc/registration/) ( http://blogs.cornell.edu/alife14nyc/registration/ ) 

 Topics of Interest 
The topics that we anticipate will include, but
are not limited to:
 
	New principles of morphogenesis in artificial systems 
	Bio-inspiration from plant vs. animal development 
	Programmability of self-organizing morphogenetic systems 
	Indirect, decentralized control of morphogenetic systems 
	Sensitivity to environmental/boundary conditions vs. endogenous drive 
	Evolvability, by variations and selection, of morphogenetic systems 
	Links with evolutionary computation, artificial embryogeny, "evo-devo" approaches 
	Swarm-based approaches to morphogenetic systems 
	Design techniques for morphogenetic engineering 
	Causalities between micro and macro properties of morphogenetic systems 
	Physical implementations 
	Applications to real-world problems (nanotechnologies, reconfigurable robots, swarm robotics, complex networks, etc.) 
	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).