The Logic Systems Laboratory, School of Computer and Communication Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Lausanne conducts research along three primary lines: (1) bio-inspired systems, (2) development and analysis of innovative hardware architectures, including new microprocessor architectures and custom processors based on reconfigurable logic, and (3) biologically inspired robots.

The first line of research aims at developing novel bio-inspired computing machines. The inspiration is drawn from three levels of organization, observed in nature: the phylogenetic level concerns the temporal evolution of the genetic programs within individuals and species, the ontogenetic level concerns the developmental process of a single multicellular organism, and the epigenetic level concerns the learning processes during an individual organism's lifetime (e.g., the nervous system and the immune system).

Each of the above three levels corresponds to a research axis in our Laboratory. Phylogeny leads to evolutionary computation, along which axis we study evolving machines, the first prototype of which, dubbed "Firefly," is worldwide unique. Ontogeny forms the basis of the "Embryonics" project that aims at designing multicellular automata, whose embryonic development imitates the biological processes of cellular division and differentiation. Finally, epigenesis leads us to the development of novel types of artificial neural networks whose synaptic weights, as well as topological connections, are programmable.

The second line of research is concerned with the development and analysis of computer hardware. Our studies are mainly based on novel innovations in the domain of programmable hardware, most notably Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs. An FPGA is a set of logic components associated with a network of programmable connections. We use off-the-shelf FPGAs to realize several types of digital systems, and in particular dedicated processors (watch processors, GENSTORM - a custom computer for biomolecular sequence comparison and pattern matching, etc.) and reconfigurable processors (RENCO - a reconfigurable network computer). In its search for new principles of organization and development of logic systems, our Laboratory has been able to rely upon solid theoretical competence in both formal logic and cellular automata theory.

Last but not least, the third line of research aims at developing biologically inspired robots for (1) producing novel types of robots with dexterous locomotion and sensorimotor coordination abilities, and (2) investigating hypotheses of how central nervous systems implement these abilities in animals.

This server enables you to discover our Laboratory, its people and their activities.
I wish you a pleasant guided tour through  and thank you for your interest in our work,

Daniel Mange

	Novembre 2005: A l'issue de sa leçon d'honneur, Daniel Mange est nommé professeur honoraire de l'Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
	Janvier 2005: Vient de paraître: Informatique et biologie, une nouvelle épopée, par Daniel Mange.
	January 2005: The book "Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines", by Robert A. Freitas and Ralph C. Merkle, Landes Bioscience, features several sections about our Embryonics project.
	December 2004: See our article in the December issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE: "A Macroscopic View of Self-Replication"
	November 2004: Just published: Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop, BioADIT 2004
	October 2004: Just published: Carlos Andres Pena's new book about Coevolutionary Fuzzy Modeling.
	October 2004: Christof Teuscher is awarded the Cor Baayen award 2004 for his Ph.D. thesis on unconventional biologically-inspired machines
	Octobre 2004: Just published: BioSystems, Vol. 76, August-October 2004, special issue devoted to the papers presented at the 5th International Workshop on Information Processing in Cells and Tissues (IPCAT '03)
	Septembre 2004: Voir notre article "Sur la piste des machines autoréplicantes" dans Pour la Science, édition française du Scientific American.
	June 2004: The book "Imitation of Life, How Biology is Inspiring Computing", by Nancy Forbes, MIT Press, features a chapter about our Embryonics project.
	March 2004: Daniel Mange nommé en qualité de membre d'honneur de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles (SVSN) en hommage à ses travaux scientifiques.
	March 2004: Nature (18 March 2004) features a review of "Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker".
	January 2004: We organized the 1st International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology (Bio-ADIT 2004).
	December 2003: Just published: Christof Teuscher's new book about Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker.
	October 2003: ITU Telecom World 2003, Geneva, demonstration of the BioWall.
	September 2003: We organized the 5th International Workshop on Information Processing in Cells and Tissues (IPCAT 2003).
	July 2003: See our article in Xcell Journal: "Biology Goes Digital".
	Mai 2003: Démonstration du BioWall dans le cadre des Portes ouvertes de l'EPFL, à Lausanne.
	Avril 2003: Démonstration du BioWall dans le cadre de Computer-expo 2003, à Lausanne.
	February 2003: Gianluca Tempesti promoted to SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) professor in the Logic Systems Laboratory, EPFL, Lausanne.
	December 2002: European Grand Prix for Innovation Awards, Monaco, demonstration of the BioWall.
	Novembre 2002: Vient de paraître: La Complexité, vertiges et promesses, 18 histoires de sciences, entretiens avec E. Morin, I. Prigogine, D. Mange, F. Varela, M. Serres, C. Langton, S. Kauffman, etc. sous la plume de R. Benkirane.
	November 2002: Auke Jan Ijspeert promoted to SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) professor in the Logic Systems Laboratory, EPFL, Lausanne.
	September 18, 2002: Inauguration of the 3rd International @rt Outsiders Festival, in Paris, and demonstration of the BioWall, a bio-inspired reconfigurable computing tissue.
	July 2002: Just published: Moshe Sipper's new book about Machine Nature
	June 28, 2002: We organized the Turing Day for commemorating the 90th anniversary of Alan Turing's birthday.
	1 Février 2002: Inauguration de la Villa Reuge, à Ste-Croix (Suisse), et démonstration en première mondiale du BioWall, un tissu informatique reconfigurable bio-inspiré.
	February 1, 2002: Inauguration of the Villa Reuge in Ste-Croix (Switzerland) and the world's first demonstration of the BioWall, a bio-inspired reconfigurable computing tissue.
	November 2001: Moshe Sipper promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
	October 2001: See our Strategic Activity Report 1995-2001 (pdf).
	October 2001: See our article in the October 2001 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems: "Fuzzy CoCo: A Cooperative Coevolutionary Approach to Fuzzy Modeling."
	September 2001: Publication of a book on Alan Mathison Turing's almost forgotten ideas on connectionism: Christof Teuscher, Turing's Connectionism, Springer-Verlag London, 2001.
	August 2001: Scientific American (August 2001, Vol. 265, No. 2) features "Go Forth and Replicate" an article highlighting the Embryonics project.
	June 2001: Computing in Science and Engineering (May/June 2001, Vol. 3, No 3) features "Evolution on a chip: evolvable hardware aims to optimize circuit design", an article highlighting our Firefly machine.
	February 2001: New Scientist (3 February 2001, Vol. 169, No. 2276) features "Space babies," an article highlighting the Embryonics project.
	April 2000: See our article in the April 2000 issue of Proceedings of the IEEE: "Toward Robust Integrated Circuits: The Embryonics Approach."
	March 2000: See our article in the March 2000 issue of IEEE Spectrum: "A new species of hardware."
	January 2000: See our article in the January 2000 issue of IEEE Computer: "Configurable Chips Meld Software and Hardware."
	September 1999: We coedited a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, entitled: From Biology to Hardware and Back.
	July 1999: See our article in the July 1999 issue of the IEEE Computer: "The Emergence of Cellular Computing."
	June 1999: See our article in the June 1999 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Computers: "Static and Dynamic Configurable Systems."
	May 1999: Moshe Sipper is awarded the 1999 Latsis Prize, a prestigious award conferred on a promising young researcher who has made significant contributions to scientific research.
	April 1999: See our article in the April 1999 issue of the Communications of the ACM: "Quo Vadis Evolvable Hardware?"
	September 1998: We organized the Second Intl. Conf. on Evolvable Systems ICES'98.
	Summer 1998: We recently coedited a special issue of the Artificial Life journal, dedicated to the theme of artificial self-replication.
	Spring 1998: Just published: our new book about Bio-Inspired Computing Machines.
	September 26, 1997:LSL featured in Science.
	June 23, 1997: LSL featured in Business Week.

Recent PhD graduates:
 

	Spring 2005: "Tissu numérique cellulaire à routage et configuration dynamiques" by Yann Thoma.
	Spring 2004: "Processeur à haut degré de parallélisme basé sur des composantes sérielles" by Ralph Hoffmann.
	Spring 2004: "Fault Tolerant Self-Replicating Systems" by Enrico Petraglio.
	Winter 2003-2004: "Amorphous Membrane Blending: From Regular to Irregular Cellular Computing Machines" by Christof Teuscher.
	Autumn 2002: "Coevolutionary Fuzzy Modeling" by Carlos Andrés Peña-Reyes.
	Spring 2002: "EPIC Architecture and Multimedia Instruction Sets for Cryptographic Applications" by Jacques-Olivier Haenni.
	Spring 2002: "Evolution of Ontogenetic Cellular Systems for Problem Solving" by Mathieu Capcarrère.
	Summer 2001: "Implementation of a Self-Replicating Universal Turing Machine" by Héctor Fabio Restrepo García.
	Summer 2001: "Etude et conception d'opérateurs arithmétiques optimisés pour circuits programmables" by Jean-Luc Beuchat.
	Spring 2000: "Multitask RISC Processor" by Dominik Madon.
	Winter 1999: "High-Performance Processors with Low Power Consumption" by Jean-Michel Puiatti.
	Autumn 1999: "Structure-Adaptable Digital Neural Networks" by Andres Perez-Uribe.
	Winter 1998: "A Reconfigurable Processor for Biomolecular Sequence Processing" by Emeka Mosanya.
	Summer 1998: "A Self-Repairing Multiplexer-based FPGA Inspired by Biological Processes" by Gianluca Tempesti.