Persistent autonomy artificial intelligence or biomimesis?

We seek to develop autonomous robots that can operate and interact unsupervised for extended lengths of time in unknown environments, adapting their purpose in response to events and goals, learning from successes and failures, recovering from errors in execution whilst monitoring and maintaining self health. Such persistent autonomy is a challenging ambition, and the subject of an increasingly intense research effort. Two broad approaches have evolved, one rooted in artificial intelligence research from the 1970s onward, and the other in studies of animals and even plants that nature has evolved over millennia. Both offer opportunities and challenges in implementation. This paper presents a snapshot of recent and ongoing developments from each approach, and offers some perspectives on the potential that each offers.