From natural to artificial life: Biomimetic mechanisms in animat designs

This paper describes several models that incorporate some biomimetic mechanisms into the control architecture of an animal that has to survive in a changing environment. The adaptive capacities of these mechanisms are compared to engineering solutions, in application domains that involve navigation, action selection, and evolutionary design. It is argued that, although impressive adaptive capacities are already afforded by such biomimetic mechanisms, these capacities are nevertheless limited by the shortcomings of current biological knowledge. It is also argued that these shortcomings could be remedied were biologists willing to take advantage of the bottom-up and synthetic point of view with which artificial life might complement their traditional top-down and analytic approach.