Scientists from the University of Lincoln taught robots to communicate with the outside world

Based on the communication techniques used by insect swarms to communicate with each other, Lincoln Universityhas invented an efficient and inexpensive system capable ofsimulate the release of those natural pheromones that are responsible for the perception of the environment.

Thanks to this device, robots are now endowed with the ability to recognize and interact. This technique is a new approach to the coordination of multi-robotic systems, the creation of which scientists were primarily inspired by the natural world itself and those animal organisms that inhabit it.

Recent research in this area is of particular importance for the development of biological science devoted to the study of ants and other insect species. Until now, researchers specializing in swarm robotic applications have been unable to replicate all aspects of pheromone communication that occur in nature. Scientists have tried both chemical agents (such as alcohol) and physical agents (light and sound) to achieve a plausible effect, but none of these approaches met their expectations.

How did the scientists from the University of Lincoln manage to do this?

Using an LCD screen and inexpensive USB cameras, the system visualizes pheromones in the image and even allows them to be altered, giving scientists the ability to control the experiment.The visualization of the pheromone on the screen, in turn, is perceived by two light sensors in the form of ant antennas built into the robots, which also track the trajectory and recognize the localization source code.

Farshad Arvin, PhD in Computer Scienceat the University of Lincoln, stated: “Nature is one of the best sources of inspiration for solving various problems in all areas. For this reason, ideas from the behavior of insects were used in swarm robotics, which, like humans, are famous for their ability to live in society and observe a certain hierarchy between members of the swarm. Now we have taught robots to do this too. "

The success of the system means that now itcan be widely used in bioengineering, opening up a completely new avenue for further research in this area. The team of the University of Lincoln will now definitely lead in this specificity, and who knows what useful discoveries for science they will make next?

Anastasia Gorovaya