Evo-Devo Algorithms: Gene-Regulation for Digital Architecture

Biomimetics (Basel). 2019 Aug 13;4(3):58. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics4030058.

Abstract

The majority of current visual-algorithmic architecture is constricted to specific parameters that are gradient related, keeping their parts' relation fixed within the algorithm, far away from a truly parametric modeling with a flexible topology. Recent findings around genetics and certain genes capable of shape conditioning (development) have succeeded in recovering the science of embryology as a valid field that connects and affects the evolutionary ecosystem, showing the existence of universal mechanisms that are present in living species, thus describing powerful strategies for generation and emergence. Therefore, a new dual discipline is justified: Evolutionary developmental biology science. Authors propose the convergence of genetics algorithms and simulated features from evolutionary developmental biology into a single data-flow that will prove itself capable of generating great diversity through a simple and flexible structure of data, commands, and polygonal geometry. For that matter, a case study through visual-algorithmic software deals with the hypothesis that for obtaining a greater emergence and design space, a simpler and more flexible approach might only be required, prioritizing hierarchical levels over complex and detailed operations.

Keywords: evolutionary development; genetic algorithms; proto-architecture; visual programming.