The BioWall: an electronic tissue for prototyping bio-inspired systems

Abstract

In this article, we present the BioWall, a giant reconfigurable computing tissue developed to implement machines according to the principles of our Embryonics (embryonic electronics) project. The BioWall's size aid features are designed for public exhibition, but at the same time it represents an invaluable research tool, particularly since its complete programmability and cellular structure are extremely well adapted to the implementation of many different kinds of bio-inspired systems. To illustrate these capabilities, we present a set Of applications that range over many diverse sources of biological inspiration, from Embryonics' ontogenetic systems, through epigenetic artificial neural networks, to phylogenetic evolving hardware. All these applications have been fully implemented and tested in hardware on the BioWall.