A POEtic Architecture for Bio-Inspired Hardware

Gianluca Tempesti*, Daniel Roggen, Eduardo Sanchez, Yann Thoma
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
*Corresponding author. Email: Gianluca.Tempesti@epfl.ch
Richard Canham, Andy Tyrrell
University of York, York, England
Juan-Manuel Moreno
Technical University of Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

Abstract:

The implementation of bio-inspired systems in hardware has traditionally been more a matter of artistry than of method. The reasons are multiple, but one of the main problems has always been the lack of a universal platform, of a standardized architecture, and of a proper methodology for the implementation of such systems.

The ideas presented in this article are the first results of a new research project, ``Reconfigurable POEtic Tissue''. The goal of the project is the development of a hardware platform capable of implementing systems inspired by all the three major axes (phylogenesis, ontogenesis, and epigenesis) of bio-inspiration in digital hardware.

A novel cellular architecture, capable of exploiting the main features of the future POEtic tissue and compatible with a relatively automatic design methodology, is then presented.