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Quarterly (winter, spring, summer, fall)
128 pp. per issue
7 x 10, illustrated
ISSN
1064-5462
E-ISSN
1530-9185
2014 Impact factor:
1.39

Artificial Life

Mark A. Bedau, Editor
Winter 1995, Vol. 2, No. 2, Pages 129-156
(doi: 10.1162/artl.1995.2.2.129)
© 1995 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Automated Optimal Design of Mechanical Conformational Switches
Article PDF (4.52 MB)
Kazuhiro Saitou
Computer-Aided Design Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 3-46la, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. kazu@mit.edu
Mark J. Jakiela
Contact author. Computer-Aided Design Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 3-46la, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. jakiela@mit.edu
Abstract

Bacteriophage viruses spontaneously self-assemble in the presence of their component parts (certain protein molecules). It is believed that conformational switches, interacting chemical bonding sites that allow tentative incorrect bonds, facilitate this randomized assembly process. A one-dimensional conformational switch is proposed and used to study the randomized assembly of mechanical parts. A genetic algorithm is used to search the space of parameterized switch designs to maximize the rate of a desired assembly.