Swarm robotics takes inspiration from self-organising groups in nature, such as fish, birds and even the human brain. Currently, there are swarm roboticist focusing on how to create robotic swarms that are just as resilient and flexible and harness then for sustainable and societal applications.
Invisible Networks
In a world of invisible forces, power no longer sits at the centre: it moves like a school of fish, fluid, responsive, uncatchable.
Imagine a school of fish. Each fish moves independently without any central control yet responds and reacts in beautiful synchrony with the other fish to environmental changes, such as an approaching predator.
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In this project, ‘Invisible Networks’, I use robotic fish to demonstrate the nature of decentralised systems and the complexity they hold. The project transcends the basic notion of central control, showcasing how local interactions can cohere to create complex, emergent behaviours on a global scale.
Simulating Boids
Boids and flocking behaviours by Craig Reynolds is an artificial program that shows the flocking behaviour of birds and other natural phenomena. This offered a basic understanding of the rules involved in swarm intelligence and how these rules can lead to complex, emergent behaviours.
When cohesion increases, the digital entities gather closely together; when separation takes over, they spread apart into individual elements; and when alignment strengthens, they move in the same direction as one unified group. These shifting patterns mirror how physical and social spaces fragment and reconfigure under external pressures, demonstrating flexibility when faced with new, evolving landscapes.