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Evolvable Hardware

Welcome to the Evolvable Hardware community — a hub for research and implementation of adaptive and self-reconfiguring hardware systems through evolutionary computation.

What is Evolvable Hardware?

Evolvable Hardware logo Evolvable hardware is the application of evolutionary algorithms to hardware systems during design, operation, or both. It can be used to simulate parameter optimization for physical designs or search for new and counterintuitive designs altogether. For reconfigurable hardware, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and other programmable logic devices, the evolutionary process can be performed intrinsic to the hardware itself and exploit device-specific characteristics, including manufacturing errors and physical effects that fall below fabrication tolerances.

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Where Should I Start?

We want this website to assist you in understanding, exploring, attempting, and/or advancing Evolvable Hardware for someone of any background.

A great starting point for anyone new to the field is our About Evolvable Hardware page which outlines our mission, design philosophy, and history.

The tabs below feature a couple of ways to use the information on this site based on your background and interests. Feel free to select the one that best aligns with your goals and use it to help you get started.

Want to get your hands on real evolvable hardware? You don't need a deep theoretical background to get started — just curiosity and as little as $50 in parts.

  1. Watch the Intro Video — 20-minute overview of the field and our work
  2. Read the essentials: Concepts for Makers — you don't need all the concept pages to jump in, this is enough
  3. Purchase hardware: pico2-ice (~$50) — full parts list and assembly guide
  4. Run your first evolution: Variance Maximization — the simplest experiment, ~1–2 hours from setup to seeing your first evolved output
  5. Explore more experiments and the software/hardware tools
  6. Get involved: Join the Discord

Interested in evolvable hardware as a research topic or course project? Start with the concepts, see the research in action, then dig into the papers.

  1. Watch the Intro Video — 20-minute overview prepared for the Artificial Life Conference
  2. Read about Core Concepts
  3. See research in action: Example Experiments — these show what research questions look like in this field
  4. Read about the History of Evolvable Hardware — understand how the field evolved and why it stalled
  5. Read the papers — start with "Resurrecting FPGA Intrinsic Analog Evolvable Hardware" (2021) for the origin story, then explore our publications and foundational works
  6. Get involved: See how students can contribute or join the Discord

Already familiar with evolvable hardware? Skip to the Historical Review for a research-oriented overview. New to the field? Start with the Intro Video below.

  1. Watch the Intro Video — or read the IEEE Access paper (2025) for the full technical picture
  2. Read about the History of Evolvable Hardware — including foundational works by Thompson et al.
  3. Read our publications and field surveys
  4. Read about Future Research Directions — scoped open questions for potential research projects
  5. Explore the open-source toolchain: Projects and Tools — all code is on GitHub
  6. Explore collaboration: Collaborate or join the Discord