Multi-Cellular Techniques

Abstract

Social insects—ants, bees, wasps, and termites—and the distributed problem-solving, multi-agent paradigm that they represent, have been enormously influential in nature-inspired computing. Insect societies have been a source of inspiration and amazement for centuries, but only in the last 25 years or so have we made significant inroads to both understanding just how various collective phenomena arise and are governed, and how we can use the lessons and insights garnered from sociobiological research for more practical purposes. In this chapter, we provide a very brief history of the field, detailing some of the key phenomena, mechanisms, and lessons learned, and a quick tour of some of the different types of applications to which this knowledge has been put to use, including but certainly not limited to distributed problem solving, task allocation, search, and collective robotics.