Evolving RC circuits are taking shape through Saikarthik Ramakrishnan’s work, which can spontaneously adapt to changing environmental conditions. The circuit adapts on its own. The project, called Darwin Board, applies the logic of evolutionary algorithms to a simple filter circuit, and in this way the circuit virtually evolves itself according to its environment or the signal to be eliminated.
On the ESP32-based board, every possible RC circuit configuration is treated as a “genome.” The selection is made according to immediate requirements. This system selects the one that fits the immediate requirements from among a total of 2040 different genome combinations and runs a simple evolutionary process.
The GitHub repository is open to access. For those who want to try the project, the study’s GitHub repository is publicly available, and the repository provides direct access so the project can be examined and tested.
Why it matters
In electronics, filter circuits are traditionally built through the designer’s calculations and the selection of fixed components; this project, however, presents an experiment showing that this approach can be automated with software. Its reliance on a widely used microcontroller such as the ESP32 makes it possible to repeat similar experiments without depending on specialized laboratory hardware. The work serves as a practical example above all for hobbyists interested in embedded systems, students, and researchers who want to test evolutionary algorithms on hardware. The code being openly available on GitHub allows the results to be independently verified and the method to be tested on different circuits. On the other hand, since the project is limited to a simple RC filter, the question of whether the method would yield the same result in more complex analog circuits remains open.