May 7, 2008

Swarm Intelligence and Self-Replicating Systems

"Swarm intelligence (SI) is artificial intelligence based on the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems." (Wikipedia)

What is the source of swarm intelligence? How can decentralized systems with independent parts perform miraculous feats in unison? In this post, I start with videos of flying Starlings and waggle dancing bees, and then highlight some of the latest developments in swarm robotics. Also, I'm looking for dance videos that show how dancers have addressed these topics.

The following video shows swarms of Starlings near Oxford, England [via
Eggshell Robotics]:

Honeybees perform the "waggle dance" to notify each other about the location of nearby nectar:

Understanding the bee dance has had some practical ramifications. Read "Bee Strategy Helps Servers Run More Sweetly" and "Dancing bees help businesses."

Swarm Robotics

An introduction to swarm intelligence based on nature [via Onionesque Reality]:

These tiny autonomous robots, from James McLurkin at MIT, work in unison to explore caves, landmines and planets. They can play follow-the leader and join in other formations [via Spatial Robots].

Self-Assembling Swarm Robots

There are an increasing number of examples of swarms of small robots that can self-assemble and replicate themselves:

Learn about research from the UK in "Robots with a mind of their own":

Watch the last part of Hod Lipson's "Robots that are 'self-aware'" from Ted Talks (this is final section of video with sub-title "Self-Replicating Cub"):

As I mentioned in opening, I'm very curious to learn about dancers who have created dance works that address issues related to swarm intelligence and emergence. If you have recommendations of choreographers and dancers to interview, please let me know.

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