Clonal Plasticity: A Method for Decentralized Adaptation in Multi-agent Systems

Abstract

This paper introduces a new plant-inspired mechanism for decentralized adaptation, called clonal plasticity, which does not make use of the MAPE loop. The mechanism acts on every individual in a population and does not require centralized control. The paper presents a case-study demonstrating its utility and feasibility in adaptation. The paper concludes with some thoughts about the costs and limitations of this mechanism, and possible future strands of research in this direction.