We are an interdisciplinary research lab that studies the mechanisms underlying the coordination of large animal groups, such as ant colonies or human crowds, and their applications to complex problems such the organization of pedestrian traffic or the control of robotic swarms. We study how information is exchanged and transformed during interactions between the members of a group, and how this can lead to the emergence of "intelligent" group behaviors. In short, we study Swarm Intelligence.
Have you ever wondered why a colony of ants, all with tiny brains, can achieve near perfect coordination of their traffic, while human beings with their hundreds of billions of neurons and sophisticated technologies still find themselves in traffic jams on a daily basis? This is what we study in when we look at Swarm Intelligence (and Swarm Stupidity), where the many interactions between members of a group can lead to extraordinarily efficient solutions or snowballing catastrophes.
Construction in Eciton army ants
Problem solving in slime mold
Group coordination in minimalist robots
Discovering Biological Research
Collective Intelligence in Biological Systems
Web applications for teaching collective intelligence
A collection of R libraries for research and teaching
Web applications for teaching collective intelligence
PI / Associate Professor
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