title: Embryonic electronics.
abstract: Within the general domain of bio-inspired computing, a particular trend over the past few years has been that of constructing actual hardware devices that are inspired by nature. This paper describes one such project-Embryonics (embryonic electronics)-inspired in particular by the process of embryogenesis. Our ultimate objective is the construction of large-scale integrated circuits, exhibiting the properties of self-repair (healing) and self-replication, found until now only in living beings. We present the silicon-based artificial cell, followed by a description of mechanisms operating at the cellular level: cellular differentiation, cellular division, regeneration, and replication. We then present the cell's composition as an ensemble of lower-level elements, known as 'molecules'. As electronic chips grow evermore complex, the need for self-repair capabilities will become increasingly crucial. The Embryonics approach represents one possible way of confronting this pivotal problem.
authors.affiliation: Logic Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mange
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sipper
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marchal
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D004581:Electronics; D004626:Embryology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008838:Microcomputers; D008954:Models, Biological