"Robotic Ants Successfully Mimic Real Colony Behavior
Scientists have successfully replicated the behaviour of a colony of ants on the move with the use of miniature robots, as reported in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. The researchers, based at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, USA) and at the Research Centre on Animal Cognition (Toulouse, France), aimed to discover how individual ants, when part of a moving colony, orient themselves in the labyrinthine pathways that stretch from their nest to various food sources.
The study focused mainly on how Argentine ants behave and coordinate themselves in both symmetrical and asymmetrical pathways. In nature, ants do this by leaving chemical pheromone trails. This was reproduced by a swarm of sugar cube size robots, called "Alices," leaving light trails that they can detect with two light sensors mimicking the role of the ants' antennae..."
Read the full article at its source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130329090614.htm
Student Focus Question(s): What does this robotics-based experiment tell us about the way we regard the abilities, competencies, and successes of ants? Assuming that we can build and program tiny robots to behave the way ants do, how might we use that knowledge?
After thinking about this, you can enter your response using the "Commnets" function, below (to the left of the envelope and pencil icons). Feel free to identify your school and/or class....
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