Swarm

Have you ever watched a bunch of ants trying to carry a rather big piece of food? some ants are pulling in opposite directions, sometimes one ant gets on top of the crumb being carried. Individually each of these ants seems an Idiot, but together they achieve their goal. Swarm Intelligence.

Studying Swarm Intelligence had special significance in Robotics, If you've read Michael Crichton's Prey, you know what I am talking about. Nat Geo has an interesting article on swarm behavior

"In the Arizona desert where Deborah Gordon studies red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus), a colony calculates each morning how many workers to send out foraging for food. The number can change, depending on conditions. Have foragers recently discovered a bonanza of tasty seeds? More ants may be needed to haul the bounty home. Was the nest damaged by a storm last night? Additional maintenance workers may be held back to make repairs. An ant might be a nest worker one day, a trash collector the next. But how does a colony make such adjustments if no one's in charge?"

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