Coevolving Cellular Automata with Memory for Chemical Computing: Boolean Logic Gates in the B-Z Reaction

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how coevolving cellular automata with memory can automatically control chemical reactions, specifically the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, to realize Boolean logic gates in a massively parallel, unconventional computing system.

Contribution

It introduces a coevolutionary approach with cellular automata controlling chemical activity, enabling the creation of logic gates in a non-linear chemical medium.

Findings

Cellular automata successfully control chemical wave behaviour.

Boolean logic gates are implemented in the B-Z reaction.

The method enables programmable chemical computing.

Abstract

We propose that the behaviour of non-linear media can be controlled automatically through coevolutionary systems. By extension, forms of unconventional computing, i.e., massively parallel non-linear computers, can be realised by such an approach. In this study a light-sensitive sub-excitable Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction is controlled using various heterogeneous cellular automata. A checkerboard image comprising of varying light intensity cells is projected onto the surface of a catalyst-loaded gel resulting in rich spatio-temporal chemical wave behaviour. The coevolved cellular automata are shown to be able to control chemical activity through dynamic control of the light intensity. The approach is demonstrated through the creation of a number of simple Boolean logic gates.