Lipson H, Pollack J B
Computer Science Department, Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA.
Nature. 2000 Aug 31;406(6799):974-8. doi: 10.1038/35023115.
Biological life is in control of its own means of reproduction, which generally involves complex, autocatalysing chemical reactions. But this autonomy of design and manufacture has not yet been realized artificially. Robots are still laboriously designed and constructed by teams of human engineers, usually at considerable expense. Few robots are available because these costs must be absorbed through mass production, which is justified only for toys, weapons and industrial systems such as automatic teller machines. Here we report the results of a combined computational and experimental approach in which simple electromechanical systems are evolved through simulations from basic building blocks (bars, actuators and artificial neurons); the 'fittest' machines (defined by their locomotive ability) are then fabricated robotically using rapid manufacturing technology. We thus achieve autonomy of design and construction using evolution in a 'limited universe' physical simulation coupled to automatic fabrication.
生物生命掌控着自身的繁殖方式，这通常涉及复杂的、自我催化的化学反应。但这种设计与制造的自主性尚未通过人工方式实现。机器人仍然是由人类工程师团队费力地设计和建造的，通常成本高昂。可用的机器人很少，因为这些成本必须通过大规模生产来分摊，而大规模生产仅在玩具、武器和诸如自动取款机之类的工业系统中才合理。在此，我们报告一种结合计算与实验的方法所取得的成果，即简单的机电系统通过从基本构建模块（杆、致动器和人工神经元）进行模拟演化而来；然后使用快速制造技术以机器人方式制造出“最适合的”机器（由其 locomotive 能力定义）。因此，我们通过在“有限宇宙”物理模拟中利用进化并结合自动制造实现了设计与建造的自主性。
