Self-Programming: Operationalizing Autonomy
Eric Nivel, Kristinn R. Þórisson · 2009
Lacking an operational definition of autonomy has considerably weakened the concept's impact in systems engineering.Most current "autonomous" systems are built to operate in conditions more or less fully described a priori, which is insufficient for achieving highly autonomous systems that adapt efficiently to unforeseen situations.In an effort to clarify the nature of autonomy we propose an operational definition of autonomy: a self-programming process.We introduce Ikon Flux, a proto-architecture for self-programming systems and we describe how it meets key requirements for the construction of such systems.