Evolution-Inspired Approaches for Engineering Emergent Robustness in an Uncertain Dynamic World

Engineering involves the design and assemblage of elements that work in specific ways to achieve a predictable purpose and function. In systems design, engineering takes a conceptual “top-down” approach to problem solving that aims to decompose a complicated problem into separable and more manageable sub-problems. While this strategy has been successful in designing systems that deftly operate under predetermined conditions, these same systems are often notoriously fragile when conditions change unexpectedly.