ABSTRACT
Humans are biological creatures. In this capacity, we share much in common with other animals. Th e makeup of our physical bodies is to a certain extent determined by instructions embedded in our genes. We must undergo a period of development in the womb before we are born and an extensive period of growth and development aft erwards. As adults, our body systems are a marvel of complexity and orchestrated function. Is it possible to duplicate all of this in a machine? Research, much of it recent in origin, shows that new inroads are being made in duplicating structures and operations that many previously believed were the sole domain of biological organisms. Th is chapter surveys several important topics in biology and investigates attempts at replicating them artifi cially. We start with the most important concept of all, which is life, and then address genetics, evolutionary design and control in robotics, development, and body systems.
