This paper describes how some mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviors in animals and men may be employed in artificial systems and in industrial applications. Such mechanisms may range from simple reflexes to highly cognitive processes. In particular, the paper describes how current knowledge about motivational systems in animals may be used to build a behavioral engine that is used to animate video-games characters. It also shows how a pedagogical engine capable of modeling human cognitive capacities in a given learning task may be applied to the automatic generation of exercises that fit a child’s current knowledge and needs. Finally, the paper suggests how it is possible to automatically generate neural controllers for satellites or walking robots, which may reconfigure themselves to cope with sudden environmental changes or with internal breakdowns.