Design beyond Morphogenesis: new tools for realising bio-inspired engineering (September 2026).

This paper was presented by Edgar Buchanan on behalf of Simon Hickinbotham, at the 42nd International Manufacturing Conference (IMC42), co-organized by the Irish Manufacturing Council and Queen’s University Belfast, which was held on 10 and 11 September 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The plenary sessions of the conference occurred on the 10th September at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC), Global Point, Newtownabbey, followed by technical sessions and a tour of AMIC facilities in the afternoon.
 

Abstract
Many approaches to automating engineering design appeal to biological systems for their inspiration. However, there are fundamental differences between living organisms and engineering that must be recognised before an appropriate emulation of evolutionary development can be applied to engineering design. This paper identifies the key differences and proposes a new paradigm, dubbed “Engineering-Centric Morphogenesis”. Four aspects of this approach are discussed: the genomic
representation as a program rather than a physical description; the generation of structure before simulation is meaningful; feedback mechanisms to control growth rates; and the ability to rewind the tape of evolution to discover adaptable designs.

The link to the full paper will be provided in due course.