The Info-computational Nature of Morphological Computing

Abstract

Morphological computing emerged recently as an approach in robotics aimed at saving robots computational and other resources by utilizing physical properties of the robotic body to automatically produce and control behavior. The idea is that the morphology of an agent (a living organism or a machine) constrains its possible interactions with the environment as well as its development, including its growth and reconfiguration. The nature of morphological computing becomes especially apparent in the info-computational framework, which combines informational structural realism (the idea that the world for an agent is an informational structure) with natural computationalism (the view that all of nature forms a network of computational processes). Info-computationalism describes morphological computation as a process of continuous self-structuring of information and shaping of both interactions and informational structures. This article argues that natural computation/morphological computation is a computational model of physical reality, and not just a metaphor or analogy, as it provides a basis for computational framing, parameter studies, optimizations and simulations -all of which go far beyond metaphor or analogy.

Morphological Computing and Cognitive Agency

“…Marcin Milkowski explored in his talk the question if morphological computation special, suggesting the negative answer. This view is in agreement with Marcin Schroeder's talk addressing computing with nature, as well as the view of morphological computation as natural computation [1]. …”

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Morphological computing, at its core, entails that the morphology (shape + material properties) of an agent (a living organism or a machine) enables and constrains its possible (physical and social) interactions with the environment as well as its development, including its growth and reconfiguration [1]. The role of such computation in cognitive systems includes the off-loading of control onto the body and its interaction with the environment thus enabling flexible and adaptive behavior [2][3][4][5][6][7].

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“…The role of such computation in cognitive systems includes the off-loading of control onto the body and its interaction with the environment thus enabling flexible and adaptive behavior [2][3][4][5][6][7]. In a more general sense, cognitive agency instantiated by the interaction processes of morphological structures in networks of networks of cognitive agents from cells to organisms and societies is a basis of understanding of embodiment of cognition on variety of levels of (self-)organisation of physical matter from its basic physical structures via chemistry and biology with life itself as cognitive process [1].The embodied cognition approach holds that cognition is grounded in environmental interactions in the world and is invisible in classical symbolic representation accounts of cognitive function, which is modeled on human "thinking" or "mentality". However, modern computational perspectives on cognition such as natural computation (including info-computationalism) account for embodiment whereby cognitive processes are considered to emerge from interactions in the world cf.…”

“…The role of such computation in cognitive systems includes the off-loading of control onto the body and its interaction with the environment thus enabling flexible and adaptive behavior [2][3][4][5][6][7]. In a more general sense, cognitive agency instantiated by the interaction processes of morphological structures in networks of networks of cognitive agents from cells to organisms and societies is a basis of understanding of embodiment of cognition on variety of levels of (self-)organisation of physical matter from its basic physical structures via chemistry and biology with life itself as cognitive process [1].…”

Physical Computation as Dynamics of Form that Glues Everything Together

“…According to pancomputationalism (naturalist computationalism)-for more details about this framework see [5,27] and [22]-one can view the time development (dynamics) of physical states in nature as information processing, and learn about its computational characteristics. Such processes include self-assembly, developmental processes, gene regulation networks, gene assembly in unicellular organisms, protein-protein interaction networks, biological transport networks, and similar.…”