Amorphous computing systems typically consist of myriads of tiny simple processors that are randomly distributed at fixed positions or move randomly in a confined volume. The processors are "embodied" meaning that each of them has its own source of energy, has a "body" equipped with various sensors and communication means and has a computational control part. Initially, the processors have no identifiers and from the technological reasons, in the interest of their maximal simplicity, their computational, communication, sensory and locomotion (if any) parts are reduced to an absolute minimum. The processors communicate wirelessly, e.g., in an airborne medium they communicate via a short-range radio, acoustically or optically and in a waterborne medium via molecular communication. In the extreme cases the computational part of the processors can be simplified down to probabilistic finite state automata or even combinatorial circuits and the system as a whole can still be made universally programmable. From the theoretical point of view the structure and the properties of the amorphous systems qualify them among the simplest (non-uniform) universal computational devices. From the practical viewpoint, once technology will enable a mass production of the required processors a host of new applications so far inaccessible to classical approaches to computing will follow.
展开▼
