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It's not just for us animals anymore:
John Koza has created an "invention machine" - a 1,000 processor parallel-processing marvel that has succeeded in creating patentable inventions. The Patent Office requires a "non-obvious step" - until now the sole province of human designers.Too cool.Koza's invention machine uses genetic programming to come up with something new - ideas that were never thought of by the original code designers. Koza's genetic programming uses a Darwinian method with a twist; after an inital run at a problem, the software looks for the bits of code that were most successful in meeting the objectives of an assigned problem. The software thus does more than simply tweak parameters on a finished design; it can actually evolve a new design to best solve a problem, requiring in some cases hundreds of generations.
For example, in working with a project on circuit design, the computer output designs for a pair of controller circuits that control feedback that were so original, Koza and his colleagues filed for, and received, patents. This method has been shown to work on optics design as well.
And in a definitely science-fictional touch, the same genetic programming technique was used to create a unique antenna for a NASA microsat experiment. This will be the first "artificially evolved" object to be launched into space, according to NASA.
That's all.
