Aristotle's four causes frame Webb's question, "Can robots serve as models of biological systems". Comprehension of such systems requires specification of triggers; functions, mechanisms, and representation. Robots constitute real models of function. Physical, biological, and epigenetic constraints delimit the hypothesis space for candidate mechanisms, which they may or may not partake. Robots
... [Show full abstract] constitute a simplified system more susceptible to formal representation than the target system. They thus constitute an important tool in a constructivist development of scientific knowledge.
