Editorial: Recent Trends in Morphological Computation

Abstract

Morphological Computation is a concept that suggests that morphological properties, such as the shape and form of a body, as well as dynamical properties like compliance, resonance, and friction, play a crucial role in the emergence of intelligent behavior in nature. Many biological systems appear to have found clever ways to exploit morphological features of their bodies to improve interaction with their environment. As a result, important functions like sensing, control or even computation are partly outsourced to the body's morphology. This, in turn, enables biological systems to be extremely robust, energy efficient, and highly adaptive. Clearly, these are all properties that are very desirable for robotics systems as well, especially, if they should operate in complex and noisy environments.