Biological systems, from embryos to social insects, get tremendous mileage using large decentralized systems of comparatively simple and unreliable components to achieve complex goals. Recent technological advances have made possible man-made systems composed of vast numbers of components, ranging from sensor networks to self-assembling modular robots. A key challenge is programming such systems: how does one harness the power of self-organization to achieve user-specified global goals from the local interactions of identically-programmed, simple agents?
In the tutorial Global-to-Local Programming: Design and Analysis for Amorphous Computers, we surveyed some of the recent research developments in practice and theory of global-to-local programming languages. We described the Amorphous Computing model and surveyed several spatial programming languages that achieve complex and self-repairing global goals by composing a small set of bio-inspired local behaviors. We also presented a theoretical framework for asking questions about the existence and complexity of global-to-local compilation, and provided hands-on examples to show the construction and analysis in such languages, discussing their applicability in networking and robotics.
A high-level description of the workshop can be found at http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/ssr/papers/saso/saso-tutorial-overview.pdf.
Here's my detailed notes for the theory section:
In the tutorial Global-to-Local Programming: Design and Analysis for Amorphous Computers, we surveyed some of the recent research developments in practice and theory of global-to-local programming languages. We described the Amorphous Computing model and surveyed several spatial programming languages that achieve complex and self-repairing global goals by composing a small set of bio-inspired local behaviors. We also presented a theoretical framework for asking questions about the existence and complexity of global-to-local compilation, and provided hands-on examples to show the construction and analysis in such languages, discussing their applicability in networking and robotics.
A high-level description of the workshop can be found at http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/ssr/papers/saso/saso-tutorial-overview.pdf.
Here's my detailed notes for the theory section:
| yamins_saso_tutorial_notes.pdf |
Global-to-Local Programming: Design and Analysis for Amorphous Computers
Self-Organizing and Self-Adaptive Systems (SASO) Conference Tutorial
July 2007
Local-to-Global Algorithms in Biology
MIT Synthetic Biology Working Group.
December 2007
Slides from Session 1 and Session 2.
Self-Organizing and Self-Adaptive Systems (SASO) Conference Tutorial
July 2007
Local-to-Global Algorithms in Biology
MIT Synthetic Biology Working Group.
December 2007
Slides from Session 1 and Session 2.