social insects

Social insects

"What is it that governs here? What is it that issues orders, foresees the future, elaborates plans and preserves equilibrium?"

Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the White Ant, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1927
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise"
The Bible, Proverbs, 6.6

Who is "in charge" of an ant colony?

Self-organization
Recruitment by social insects:
direct: bee dance and liquid food exchange
indirect recruitment: stigmergy (environmentally triggered response)

Stigmergy occurs when one insect modifies the environment and the other insect reacts to the modified environment
E.g. chemical trails, response of termites to nest structure.

Social insects	Swarm intelligence applications
Ant foraging behaviour using indirect recruitment	optimization/routing in communications networks e.g. travelling salesman problem
Division of labour/task allocation	differentiation in multiagent system or group of robots
Cooperative prey transport	cooperative transport in robotics

Ref. Eric Bonabeau, Marco Dorigo and Guy Theraulaz, Swarm Intelligence: from Natural to Artificial Systems, New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.