this $Ab$. As can be seen in Fig. \[fig:shapeSpace\](b) the $Ab$ can cater to two of the $Ag$s that lie within its $AR$. Several types of $Ab$s could recognize the same $Ag$ if the latter lies within the overlap of their active regions (Fig. \[fig:shapeSpace\](c)). In brief, the role of the BIS is to create, select and evolve a *repertoire* of $Ab$s which are best suited to curb antigenic attacks.

![A Shape Space $\mathcal{S}$ []{data-label="fig:shapeSpace"}](shape_space.png)

From Immunology to the Real World
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In the real world, the antigenic epitope $Ep$ can be visualized as an $L$-dimensional vector sampled from the environment via sensors on-board a robot. $L$ corresponds to the number of sensors attached to the robot. Fig. \[fig:ag\_ab\] depicts an epitope $Ep$ (top) formed when a robot encounters an obstacle in front. The corresponding antibody $Ab$, as shown in Fig. \[fig:ag\_ab\], comprises four components - a paratope $Pt$, the associated subcontroller $Ctr$, a concentration $C$ value and an ID number. A new $Ab$ is created if the $Ag$ is not recognized by any of the $Ab$s present in the repertoire. The $Pt$ of such a new $Ab$ is initialized to the $Ep$ of the current $Ag$ so that both 