Rapid Optimization Model Inspired by Cuckoo Birds

Innovation: Academia

Iowa State University

2021

Image: David Clode / Unsplash / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Compute

Computation allows an organism to take in and process information to make decisions. Whether it be calculating how fast prey is moving or deciding where to build a nest, computation is an important part of an organism’s life.

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Learn

Living systems obtain information from their environment and use it to find mates and resources, and to escape threats. Some reactions to gathered information are instinctual or innate behaviors, not based on previous experiences. But other reactions are based on previous experiences, which means that, at some level, the living system is learning. Learning can involve a living system passing information to another living system, or a living system obtaining information and using it in a feedback loop. That information can include knowledge, experience, behavior, and skills. Learning takes place when information that is new to the recipient is used to modify existing behavior or skills. The making and use of tools by some species of birds and mammals is a learned behavior. If a chimpanzee uses a stick to successfully get ants out of an ant mound and continues to do so, it has learned that behavior. If another chimpanzee observes this technique and replicates it, it has learned from the first chimp.

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Coevolve

Multiple living systems sometimes have such a close relationship that they end up evolving together; this is called coevolving. Coevolution occurs when changes in one living system’s genetic makeup results in changes in the other. Coevolution can result from positive, mutually-beneficial relationships. It can also result from negative relationships, such as that between a virus and its host. The host changes to avoid the virus’ harmful effects, which in turn causes a change in the virus so it can continue to predate on the host, and on through time.

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Optimization model from Iowa State University uses random sampling and 'survival of the fittest' strategy to quickly solve a problem.

Benefits

Increased efficiency
Decreased computation time

Applications

Computer algorithms
Space exploration
Materials science

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 9: Industry Innovation & Infrastructure
Goal 12: Responsible Production & Consumption

The Challenge

High-entropy alloys are used in a variety of industries, including aviation, aerospace, and defense. They possess several desirable properties, including fracture resistance, corrosion and oxidation resistance, and usability in high-temperature and high-pressure environments. However, because they are a combination of five or more elements, there are billions of possible design options, making it difficult to quickly narrow the search to a few optimal candidates for a select application.

Innovation Details

Researchers used a hybrid evolutionary algorithm that combines Cuckoo Search (CS) and the Monte Carlo algorithm. CS is based on the egg-laying strategy of cuckoo birds, which lay their eggs in the nest of other birds. This usually results in a bigger, stronger cuckoo chick. The CS algorithm does something similar: there are several ‘nests’, each with a different ‘egg’ representing a possible solution. The nests compete against each other until the best solution is found. In the case of high-entropy alloys, each ‘egg’ represents a different combination of alloys, and the different alloys are rapidly tested by the computer to see which combination is the most successful. By combining this strategy with the well-known Monte Carlo algorithm and mathematical concept called Lévy flight, researchers were able to quickly find optimal high-entropy alloys for any number of applications.

Biological Model

Cuckoo birds are obligate brood parasite that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The hatched cuckoo chicks may push the host eggs out of the nest or be raised alongside the other chicks, stealing vital resources that allow it to grow bigger and stronger than if it was raised by its cuckoo parents.

See Related Strategy

Eggs from common cuckoo races and their associated host species

Biological Strategy

Two Egg Pigments Drive Parasite Arms Race

Birds

Birds use infinite combinations of just two colors to mimic other species’ eggs or to distinguish their own eggs from invaders.

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