AMORPHOUS COMPUTING

8/7/98


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Table of Contents

AMORPHOUS COMPUTING

A scientific and technological effort to identify

Amorphous computing is

Our model

Properties of our model

Example of an Amorphous Computing Medium

Why is this interesting?

How can we program amorphous stuff?

Bifurcating Tubes: an example of emergent behavior

… But suppose we wanted to make something with a precisely specified geometry?

Local SIMD paradigm for programming differentiation and growth (Ron Weiss)

PPT Slide

A program for creating segments

PPT Slide

PPT Slide

An experimental prototype for amorphous computing

Computational particles communicate using spread-spectrum transceivers.

Test setup for transceiver

Test signals from transceiver

Some general tools for building structure in amorphous systems

PPT Slide

Cleverness makes better Coordinates

Local coordinate systems can be combined.

PPT Slide

By combining these ideas, we can obtain detailed topological control, and embody the control mechanisms in a language…

A botanical metaphor

Start with Vdd, Vss, and a Poly Contact

The poly contact sprouts a growing point that bifurcates and then grows toward the pheromones secreted by Vdd and Vss.

When the growing poly gets close to Vdd and Vss it is stopped by a short-range inhibition

The poly growing points die off, but first they sprout P and N transistor diffusion growing points, which grow toward Vdd and Vss, where they drop contacts.

The diffusions also grow toward each other. When they hit they form a new poly contact and poly growing point.

The process then repeats, growing the next inverter.

This process repeats to make an arbitrarily long chain of ugly, but topologically correct inverters.

This very parallel process can be described using a serial process metaphor. The growing points provide a serial locus of control, even though the implementation is in terms of a uniform state machine in each computational particle

The growing points created by the poly contact growing point have independent existence.

Growing points can join as well as split.

The Challenge of Amorphous Computing

Author: hal

Email: hal@martigny.ai.mit.edu

Home Page: http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu