Von Neumann cellular automata are the original expression of cellular automata, the development of which were prompted by suggestions made to John von Neumann by his close friend and fellow mathematician Stanisław Ulam. Their original purpose was to provide insight into the logical requirements for machine self-replication and were used in von Neumann's universal constructor.
Nobili's cellular automaton is a variation of von Neumann's cellular automaton, augmented with the ability for confluent cells to cross signals and store information. The former requires an extra three states, hence Nobili's cellular automaton has 32 states, rather than 29. Hutton's cellular automaton is yet another variation, which allows a loop of data, analogous to Langton's loops, to replicate.
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