Embryonic machines that grow, self-replicate and self-repair

After a reminder about embryonic machines endowed with universal construction and universal computation properties, this paper presents a novel architecture providing additional self-repairing capabilities. Based on the hardware implementation of the so-called Tom Thumb algorithm, the design of this machine leads to a new kind of cellular automaton made of a processing unit and a control unit. The corresponding hardware implementation results from a new and straightforward methodology for the design of self-replicating and self-repairing computing machines of any dimensions.