A morphogenetic evolutionary system: Phylogenesis of the POEtic circuit

Abstract. This paper describes a new evolutionary mechanism devel-oped specifically for cellular circuits. Called morphogenetic system, it is inspired by the mechanisms of gene expression and cell differentia-tion found in living organisms. It will be used as the phylogenetic (evo-lutionary) mechanism in the POEtic project. The POEtic project will deliver an electronic circuit, called the POEtic circuit, with the capa-bility to evolve (Phylogenesis), self-repair and grow (Ontogenesis) and learn (Epigenesis). The morphogenetic system is applied to the gener-ation of patterns and to the evolution of spiking neural networks, with experiments of pattern recognition and obstacle avoidance with robots. Experimental results show that the morphogenetic system outperforms a direct genetic coding in several experiments.