mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Goal-Guided Neural Cellular Automata: Learning to Control Self-Organising Systems

arXiv 2205.06806 ↗First posted 25 Apr 2022cs.NE cs.LGcited by 9

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Abstract (arXiv)

Inspired by cellular growth and self-organization, Neural Cellular Automata (NCAs) have been capable of "growing" artificial cells into images, 3D structures, and even functional machines. NCAs are flexible and robust computational systems but -- similarly to many other self-organizing systems -- inherently uncontrollable during and after their growth process. We present an approach to control these type of systems called Goal-Guided Neural Cellular Automata (GoalNCA), which leverages goal encodings to control cell behavior dynamically at every step of cellular growth. This approach enables the NCA to continually change behavior, and in some cases, generalize its behavior to unseen scenarios. We also demonstrate the robustness of the NCA with its ability to preserve task performance, even when only a portion of cells receive goal information.

Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 10 of its 24 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 25 Apr 2022.

Builds on

10 of 24 references.

References · 10

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  2. 2019PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Librarycited by 20,305
  3. 2018Fundamentals of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Networkcited by 420
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  5. 2021The Sensory Neuron as a Transformer: Permutation-Invariant Neural Networks for Reinforcement Learningcited by 50
  6. 2021Growing 3D Artefacts and Functional Machines with Neural Cellular Automatacited by 38
  7. 2021Illuminating Diverse Neural Cellular Automata for Level Generationcited by 35
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  10. 2022Physical Neural Cellular Automata for 2D Shape Classificationcited by 7

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 3; 2025: 3; 2026: 3.

9 papers.

  1. 2024CAX: Cellular Automata Accelerated in JAXcited by 8
  2. 2025EngramNCA: a Neural Cellular Automaton Model of Memory Transfercited by 7
  3. 2025Neural Cellular Automata: From Cells to Pixelscited by 5
  4. 2024An Organism Starts with a Single Pix-Cell: A Neural Cellular Diffusion for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4
  5. 2025rNCA: Self-Repairing Segmentation Maskscited by 2
  6. 2026Learning Developmental Scaffoldings to Guide Self-Organisationcited by 2
  7. 2024Emergent Dynamics in Neural Cellular Automatacited by 1
  8. 2026Applications of Neural Cellular Automata: State of the Art, Challenges and Opportunitiescited by 0
  9. 2026On Growth and Form, and Function: Reusable Regulatory Handles Control Phenotypic Variationcited by 0