Resumen
Over the past few years a growing number of computing scientists and engineers have been turning to nature, seeking inspiration to augment capabilities of their artificial systems. The ultimate goal of bio-inspired system engineers is to create more adaptive systems, in which "adaptive" refers to a system's ability to undergo modifications according to changing circumstances, thus ensuring its continued functionality. With bio-inspired hardware the aim is to reduce the amount of human design necessary. The ultimate goal is to build a system that will evolve, develop and learn with no human intervention. The article intends to describe a number of current milestones and to trace some of the possible developments of the near future. Within the field of bio-inspired hardware, a major enabling technology is that of configurable circuits, and especially field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA). FPGA are large, fast integrated circuits that can be modified or configured at almost any point by the end user.