Clustering and Sorting by Robot Swarms

Social insects such as ants and bees manipulate resources in their environment to suit their needs. For example, ants sort their brood (i.e. ant babies) by size. They also cluster dead ants into groups. These insects achieve this without supervision and without consulting a “master plan.” This project involves borrowing mechanisms for social insect clustering and sorting for use in robotics with potential application in processing recyclable materials.