Evolvable hardware (EHW) refers to hardware whose architecture/structure and functions change dynamically and autonomously in order to improve its performance in carrying out tasks. The only single resource presenting both the fundamentals, and the latest advances in the field, this book teaches the basics of reconfigurable devices, why they are necessary and how they are designed.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware, ICES '98, held in Lausanne, Switzerland in September 1998. The 38 revised papers presented were carefully selected for inclusion in the book from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on evaluation of digital systems, evolution of analog systems, embryonic electronics, bio-inspired systems, artifical neural networks, adaptive robotics, adaptive hardware platforms, and molecular computing.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Evolvable Systems, ICES 2008, held in Prague, Czech Republic, in September 2008. The 28 revised full papers and 14 revised poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 52 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on evolution of analog circuits, evolution of digital circuits, hardware-software codesign and platforms for adaptive systems, evolutionary robotics, development, real-world applications, evolutionary networking, evolvable artificial neural networks, and transistor-level circuit evolution.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Evolvable Systems, ICES 2007, held in Wuhan, China, in September 2007. The 41 revised full papers collected in this volume are organized in topical sections on digital hardware evolution, analog hardware evolution, bio-inspired systems, mechanical hardware evolution, evolutionary design, evolutionary algorithms in hardware design, and hardware implementation of evolutionary algorithms.

This book constitutes the strictly refereed post-conference proceedings recording the scientific progress achieved at the First International Conference on Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware, ICES'96, held in Tsukuba, Japan, in October 1996. The volume presents 33 revised full papers including several invited contributions surveying the state of the art in this emerging area of research and development. The volume is divided into topical sections on evolware, cellular systems, engineering applications of evolvable hardware systems, evolutionary robotics, innovative architectures, evolvable systems, evolvable hardware, and genetic programming.

On behalf of the ICES 2001 Conference Committee, it is our pleasure to present to you the proceedings of the fourth International Conference on Evolvable S- tems: From Biology to Hardware, ICES 2001, held in Tokyo, Japan, on 3-5 - tober 2001, addressing the latest developments and discussing challenges facing the ?eld of evolvable systems. The idea of evolving machines, whose origins can be traced back to the - bernetics movement of the 1940s and the 1950s, has recently re-emerged in the form of the nascent ?eld of bio-inspired systems and evolvable hardware. Foll- ing the workshop, Towards Evolvable Hardware, which took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, in October 1995, the First International Conference on Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware (ICES96), was held at the Electrotech- cal Laboratory (MITI), Tsukuba, Japan, in October 1996. The second and the third International Conferences on Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Ha- ware (ICES98 and ICES 2000) were respectively held in Lausanne in September 1998, and in Edinburgh in April 2000. Following the success of these past events, ICES 2001 was dedicated to the promotion and advancement of all aspects of evolvable systems, including ha- ware, software, algorithms, and applications. By bringing together researchers who use biologically inspired concepts to implement real systems in arti?cial - telligence, arti?cial life, robotics, VLSI design, and related domains, ICES 2001 reunited this burgeoning community.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Evolvable Systems, ICES 2005, held in Sitges, Spain in September 2005. The 21 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected. The papers are organized in topical sections on fault tolerance and recovery, platforms for evolving digital systems, evolution of analog circuits, evolutionary robotics, evolutionary hardware design methodologies, bio-inspired architectures, and applications.