Partially Funded Research Grant in Australia for Research into How Ant Colonies Build Complex Structures Using Decentralized Processes, in order to Program Robots for Teamwork
Macquarie University is offering a partially funded research grant in Australia for research into how ant colonies build complex structures using decentralized processes, to program robots for teamwork. In this grant, you will:
Using individual tracking techniques to follow workers' positions, combined with repeated 3D scanning of the emerging nest structure, to characterize individual-level behaviors and interaction rules used at each stage of construction.
Use these data to assemble a theoretical framework, then validate it through simulation modeling and automated physical tools, that explicitly link individual-level behavior to team-based coordination, phased transitions, and, finally, emergent structural outcomes.
This framework will be central to our understanding of a range of other complex systems in nature and engineering.
Insights from the biology and modeling phases of the project will be combined to deliver the first generation of bio-inspired robots that use teamwork to 3D print complex structures without the need for oversight or prior planning.
