On the one hand, natural phenomena of spontaneous pattern formation are generally random and repetitive, whereas, on the other hand, complicated heterogeneous architectures are the product of human design. The only examples of self-organized *and* structured systems are biological organisms produced by development. Can we export their *precise self-formation* capabilities to computing systems?

This work proposes an "embryomorphic engineering" approach inspired by evo-devo to solve the paradoxical challenge of planning autonomous systems. Its goal is to artificially reconstruct complex morphogenesis by integrating three fundamental ingredients: *self-assembly* (SA) and *pattern formation* (PF) under *genetic regulation* (GR). The spontaneous making of an entire organism from a single cell is the epitome of a self-organizing and programmable complex system. Through a precise spatiotemporal interplay of genetic switches and chemical gradients, an elaborate form is created without explicit architectural plan or engineering intervention. This original study proposes a multi-agent simulation and exportation to artificial systems of these fundamental morphogenetic mechanisms.

It presents a spatial computational agent-based model that can be equivalently construed as (a) *moving* cellular automata, in which cell rearrangement is influenced by the pattern they form, or (b) *heterogeneous* swarm motion, in which agents differentiate into patterns according to their location. It offers a new abstract framework to explore the causal and programmable link from genotype to phenotype that is needed in many emerging computational domains, such as "amorphous computing" or "artificial embryogeny".

More at http://doursat.free.fr/research_bio_devo.html