Oliver Guenther, Tad Hogg and Bernardo A. Huberman
Dynamics of Computation Group
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Palo Alto, CA 94304
guenther@parc.xerox.com,
hogg@parc.xerox.com,
huberman@parc.xerox.com
Embedding microscopic sensors, computers and actuators into materials
allows physical systems to actively monitor and respond to their
environments. This leads to the possibility of creating smart matter,
i.e., materials whose properties can be changed under program control to
suit varying constraints. A key difficulty in realizing the potential of
smart matter is developing the appropriate control programs. One
approach to this problem is a multiagent control system, which can
provide robust and rapid response to environmental changes. To improve
the performance of such systems, we describe how the agents'
organization can adapted through simple learning mechanisms. As a
specific example, we consider maintaining a physical system near an
unstable configuration, a particularly challenging application for smart
matter. This shows how the system's organization can adapt to the local
physical structure to improve performance.
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