been affected. COVID-19 also has an impact on how our society communicates, and
the scientific communities are also affected by this terrible pandemic. To act in complete observance of safety and ethical practices, and to maintain the scientific research
and knowledge exchange with new lockdown-proof methods and technologies, the
conference this year was held online. The conference was hosted by the Cluster of
Excellence at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and by the “Living, Adaptive and
Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)” (www.livmats.uni-freiburg.de). The
workshops were hosted by the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg. The
great success of the first virtual edition of the conference follows previous successful
editions in Nara, Japan in 2019; Paris, France in 2018; Stanford, USA in 2017;
Edinburgh, UK in 2016; Barcelona, Spain in 2015; Milan, Italy in 2014; London, UK
in 2013; and Barcelona, Spain in 2012.
We would like to thank our hosts for the conference, workshops, and poster sessions
held at the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg and livMatS.
We also wish to thank the many people that were involved in making the 9th edition
of Living Machines possible: Thomas Speck and Paul Verschure co-chaired the
meeting; Vasiliki Vouloutsi chaired the Program Committee and edited the conference
proceedings; Tony Prescott chaired the international Steering Committee; and Anna
Mura was the general organization chair and also coordinated the Web and communications. Thomas Speck and his group, including Falk Tauber and Sonja Seidel,
provided local organizational support. We are grateful to the SPECS lab at the Institute
for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona for the assistance in the organization and technical support. We would also like to thank the authors and speakers
who contributed their work, and the members of the Program Committee for their
detailed and considered reviews. We are grateful to the four keynote speakers who
shared with us their vision of the future.
Finally, we wish to thank the organizers and sponsors of Living Machines 2020: the
SPECS-lab at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia IBEC, the Catalan Institution
for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), and the University of Freiburg. Additional support was also provided by Springer. Living Machines 2020 was also supported by Sensors and the IOP Physics journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, which
will publish a special issue of articles based on the best conference papers. The
Biomimetics - Open Access Journal, livMatS, microTEC Südwest, 3D Bio-Net, and
GrowBot awarded the first and second best papers and posters.
July 2020
Vasiliki Vouloutsi
Anna Mura
Falk Tauber
Thomas Speck
Tony J. Prescott
Paul F. M. J. Verschure
Preface
vii
the scientific communities are also affected by this terrible pandemic. To act in complete observance of safety and ethical practices, and to maintain the scientific research
and knowledge exchange with new lockdown-proof methods and technologies, the
conference this year was held online. The conference was hosted by the Cluster of
Excellence at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and by the “Living, Adaptive and
Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)” (www.livmats.uni-freiburg.de). The
workshops were hosted by the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg. The
great success of the first virtual edition of the conference follows previous successful
editions in Nara, Japan in 2019; Paris, France in 2018; Stanford, USA in 2017;
Edinburgh, UK in 2016; Barcelona, Spain in 2015; Milan, Italy in 2014; London, UK
in 2013; and Barcelona, Spain in 2012.
We would like to thank our hosts for the conference, workshops, and poster sessions
held at the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg and livMatS.
We also wish to thank the many people that were involved in making the 9th edition
of Living Machines possible: Thomas Speck and Paul Verschure co-chaired the
meeting; Vasiliki Vouloutsi chaired the Program Committee and edited the conference
proceedings; Tony Prescott chaired the international Steering Committee; and Anna
Mura was the general organization chair and also coordinated the Web and communications. Thomas Speck and his group, including Falk Tauber and Sonja Seidel,
provided local organizational support. We are grateful to the SPECS lab at the Institute
for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona for the assistance in the organization and technical support. We would also like to thank the authors and speakers
who contributed their work, and the members of the Program Committee for their
detailed and considered reviews. We are grateful to the four keynote speakers who
shared with us their vision of the future.
Finally, we wish to thank the organizers and sponsors of Living Machines 2020: the
SPECS-lab at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia IBEC, the Catalan Institution
for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), and the University of Freiburg. Additional support was also provided by Springer. Living Machines 2020 was also supported by Sensors and the IOP Physics journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, which
will publish a special issue of articles based on the best conference papers. The
Biomimetics - Open Access Journal, livMatS, microTEC Südwest, 3D Bio-Net, and
GrowBot awarded the first and second best papers and posters.
July 2020
Vasiliki Vouloutsi
Anna Mura
Falk Tauber
Thomas Speck
Tony J. Prescott
Paul F. M. J. Verschure
Preface
vii