About the Course

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In nature we observe collective behavior in many different species, as living organisms in a group work together to solve complex problems. Whether moving in an organized flock, gathering resources from the environment, or making decisions as a group, these behaviors offer clear benefits to collectively behaving animals. These are, for instance, efficient foraging or navigation, improved access to or transfer of information, shared labor and improved energy expenditure, collective defense mechanisms and anti-predatory tactics, and group hunting.

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Translating the key components of collective behavior into applied technology and swarm robotic applications is of paramount importance. Tapping into the benefits of natural collectives, distributed systems offer a multitude of promising applications. Examples are monitoring hazardous areas, efficiently combating forest fires, or conducting search-and-rescue missions after natural disasters, among many others. For these applications, however, we must first understand the underlying principles that shape the multitude of collective behaviors. The goal of this course is to provide an overview of collective behavior research.

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This seminar series provides an introduction and general overview into collective behavior, from biological systems – such as swarms of insects, schools of fish or flocks of birds – to synthetic artifacts, focusing on mathematical/computational models, swarm robotic systems, and mixed reality technology. Participants will have the unique opportunity to get deeper insights into these topics through a lecture series provided by highly distinguished scientists on the field. The course is extended with multiple interactive sessions, a journal club, an ethics panel, as well as a mini block course in modeling collective behavior with agent-based models.

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