Evolution in materio: initial experiments with liquid crystal

Intrinsic evolution is often limited to using standard electronic components as the media for problem solving. It has been argued that because such components are human designed and intentionally have predictable responses, they may not be the optimal medium to use when trying to get a naturally inspired search technique to solve a problem. Evolution has been demonstrated as capable of exploiting the physical properties of material to form solutions, however, by giving evolution only conventional components, we may be limiting ourselves to solving certain problems. It is hoped by allowing evolution to explore a physically rich environment, it will be able to find novel solutions to tasks presented. This paper investigates the use of liquid crystal as a novel substrate for evolution and demonstrates the feasibility of moving beyond the silicon box.