That firm hardware evolves!
I wonder what image everybody has when hearing that hardware evolves. I wonder whether everybody will imagine the scene where arms of the robot are transformed and the hand is transformed into the drill like the robot animation. The hardware evolution which I introduce here might be a little different from the imagination of everybody. Then, the hardware evolution which is my research theme is introduced as follows.
LSI which was able to be composed again repeatedly appeared by the advancement of hardware. This LSI can compose electronic circuit of various compositions internally by writing external empt data. This LSI is called FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The FPGA is used in the field where prototype design and a small amount of other articles kind of electronic circuit should be made in a short
term now. There was advancement remarkable as for the design technique of hardware. The computer aided comes to be done to the world of the hardware design, and the design by the hardware description language has become general.
We described hardware with software and came to be able to generate hardware by the advancement of the above mentioned two technologies. We are proposing hardware evolution system AdAM based on hardware description language SFL of CAD system PARTHENON which NTT developed.

By now, I have done the expansion of chromosome into diploid chromosome and the submission of the progressive evolution model. My research announcement career at a current international conference is shown in the following.

List of My articles

• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Hardware Evolution with Genetic Diversity", ALife V
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Hardware Evolution System Introducing Dominant and Recessive Heredity", ICES '96
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Progressive Evolution Model Using A Hardware Evolution System", AROB 2nd
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Diploid Chromosome and Progressive Evolution Model for Real-Time Hardware Evolution", ECAL '97
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Comparison of Evolutionary Methods for Smoother Evolution", ICES '98
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Progressive evolution model using a hardware evolution system", Artif Life Robotics Vol.2 157--161, 1998
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Hardware Evolution System AdAM", COMMUNICATIONS of the ACM Vol.42 No.4 pp 64--65, April 1999
• T.Hikage, H.Hemmi, and K.Shimohara, "Progressive Evolution and its Dynamics", The Journal of Three Dimensional Images Vol.13 No.3 83--88, 1999

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other reaserch groups

• ETL (Japan)
• Nagoya Univ. (Japan)
• University of Sussex (England)
• EPFL (Switzerland)

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Related Conference

• ICES
• ICEC
• ECAL
• AROB
• ALife
• SEAL
• GP
• etc.

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Schedule of conference in the future

• ICES 2000

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When I was child, I saw a beautiful preying mantis in an insect picture book. It looked like an orchid. I wondered why their shape and color became such. I was surprised at the power of evolution. Because I was interested in insects, I wanted to be an entomologist, but later encounters with the computer changed my path. My interest shifted to electronics. My research field is hardware evolution, a subject in artificial life, now.

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Biography

Tomofumi Hikage
is a Research Scientist in the Social Communication Laboratory of NTT Communication Science Laboratories (CS Labs.). He received his Bachelor's degree in 1991 and his Masters degree in 1993 from Utsunomiya University, Tochigi, Japan. He had worked in NTT HI Labs since 1993. He has worked in NTT CS Labs since 1998.
His current research interest is Hardware Evolution and Artificial Life.

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[Evolutionary Systems Research Group] [Communication Science Laboratories]

Last modified: Sun Jan 16 00:36:22 LMT 2000