Mathematical Biology Discussion Group - Self-organised cooperation between robotic swarms

During regular semester the Centre for Mathematical Biology holds a fortnightly discussion group. The meeting gives everyone who attends the chance to discuss new and interesting developments in topics relevant to both biology and mathematics. Participants are free to present their own work or discuss the work of other researchers. The range of topics we’ve covered in the past has been broad and exciting, including: how perceptual tasks in a primate’s brain could be considered equivalent to the nest site selection process of house hunting ants and honey bees, developing robots that emulate the motion of human platform divers, using genetic algorithms to design short range optical fibres with particular characteristics, and rationality (or lack of it) in decision making by animals and other organisms.

The next meeting will be held this Thursday, the 25th of August, at 2pm in Carslaw room 707A. This week we will be discussing self-organised cooperation between members of heterogeneous robotic swarms! This robotic cooperation is based on work produced in association with project Swarmanoid. Check out http://www.swarmanoid.org for more information about project Swarmanoid, including a nice video of the robots working together to complete an exploration and collection task.

Most meetings, including this Thursday's, will be based around a paper that is sent around to regular attendees through the Centre for Mathematical Biology's mailing list. If you would like to receive regular information about the Centre's fortnightly meetings and other activities, subscribe to the Centre's mailing list here.