On routine evolution of new replicating structures in cellular automata

This paper presents evolutionary design of two-dimensional, uniform cellular automata. The problem of replicating loops is considered as a case study. Conditionally matching rules are used as a technique that is suitable to the design of cellular automata state transition rules. A genetic algorithm is applied to the design of cellular automata that satisfy the requirements of replicating loops. It is shown that such evolution is able to find various state transition rules that support replication of a given loop. Results presented herein demonstrate the ability of derived cellular automata to perform replication not only from an initial instance of the loop but also, that from a seed the loop can autonomously grow.