University of Dortmund, Dempt. of Computer Science, Chair of Systemsanalysis (LS XI)
Towards a Metabolic Robot Controller
International Workshop on Information Processing in Cells and Tissues, Sheffield 1997
Abstract
Bacteria must be able to detect rapid changes in their environment and to adapt
their metabolism to external fluctuations.
They monitor their surroundings with
membrane-bound and intra-cellular sensors. The regulatory
mechanisms of bacteria can act as a model for the design of robust
control systems based on an artificial chemistry. The capability to process information
which is needed to keep autonomous agents surviving in an unknown
environments is discussed by means of two examples. (1) is inspired by
polymerisation reactions and (2) is inspired by enzyme-substrate kinetics.
First experimental
results with a real mobile robot are presented.
full paper