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

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.06806 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.06806/

## 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 (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [Fundamentals of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.03314/) (2018)
- [Intrinsically Motivated Goal Exploration Processes with Automatic Curriculum Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.02190/) (2017)
- [The Sensory Neuron as a Transformer: Permutation-Invariant Neural Networks for Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.02869/) (2021)
- [Growing 3D Artefacts and Functional Machines with Neural Cellular Automata](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.08737/) (2021)
- [Illuminating Diverse Neural Cellular Automata for Level Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.05489/) (2021)
- [Collective Intelligence for Deep Learning: A Survey of Recent Developments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14377/) (2021)
- [Variational Neural Cellular Automata](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.12360/) (2022)
- [Physical Neural Cellular Automata for 2D Shape Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07548/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [CAX: Cellular Automata Accelerated in JAX](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.02651/) (2024)
- [EngramNCA: a Neural Cellular Automaton Model of Memory Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.11855/) (2025)
- [Neural Cellular Automata: From Cells to Pixels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.22899/) (2025)
- [An Organism Starts with a Single Pix-Cell: A Neural Cellular Diffusion for High-Resolution Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.03018/) (2024)
- [rNCA: Self-Repairing Segmentation Masks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.13397/) (2025)
- [Learning Developmental Scaffoldings to Guide Self-Organisation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.14998/) (2026)
- [Emergent Dynamics in Neural Cellular Automata](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.06406/) (2024)
- [Applications of Neural Cellular Automata: State of the Art, Challenges and Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.24595/) (2026)
- [On Growth and Form, and Function: Reusable Regulatory Handles Control Phenotypic Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.29755/) (2026)

## 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.