Computation-in-Materio: evolving computation with light

Abstract

Evolution-in-Materio is a research field wherein evolutionary algorithms are used to seek out configurations that allows one to make use of a physical material as a computational device. The reasons for this are to seek out new viable materials for computation, as well as to explore the range of usefulness of evolutionary algorithms in computation research. The project looks at the possibility of developing a frequency discriminator in an amor- phous silicon solar panel exclusively by applying light onto the solar panel. This thesis presents successful, albeit unstable blinking led frequency discriminators that are evolved in-materio.