A new architecture overcomes the limitation of conventional robotic technologies. Named the Self Organizing Model ("SOM") it includes a method that allows systems to learn, grow and continually evolve without outside control. This technology enables Artificial Life, one aspect of which is robotic "life." If this system is compared to a real living thing, the hardware is like the body and the potential instinct and habits and related data are like the DNA. The hardware includes memory which contains the instinct and related data. Algorithms and organizations are provided so that the hardware forms an adapting and evolving brain that senses the environment and formulates actions to improve the survival of the Artificial Life according to predetermined rules. The organism can learn and become more complex all without complex software programs that attempt to anticipate all possible situations.