2009 Brother Lucian Blersch Symposium Focuses on Swarm Intelligence

Ever wondered how schools of fish know how to dodge predators? Or how flocks of geese choose the right direction? The answer lies in collective problem solving or swarm intelligence, which will be the focus of the 2009 Brother Lucian Blersch Symposium, “SWARM: Bees, Robots and the Intelligence of the Collective” from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 27, in Mabee Ballroom, Robert and Pearle Ragsdale Center.

SCHEDULE

Organized by the School of Natural Sciences at St. Edward’s University, the event is free and open to the public. This annual symposium honors Brother Lucian Blersch, CSC, a longtime professor of engineering at St. Edward’s who died in 1986 and in whose name a professorship in the School of Natural Sciences was endowed by a gift from J.B.N. Morris hs ’48, ’52, and his family.

Swarm intelligence refers to problem solving that is accomplished collectively by a group operating without centralized control. This type of decision making is not solely based in nature; it is also has human applications, such as allocating telecommunication traffic among servers or directing nanobots within a body to kill cancer.

This year’s presenters include Thomas Seeley of Cornell University. Seeley is a honeybee expert who will discuss how thousands of honeybees swarm together to collectively select a home site. Seeley will also talk about the lessons humans can learn form bee swarms, such as fostering good decision making by democratic groups.

James McLurkin of the University of Washington will discuss his research on robot swarms. McLurkin’s development of robot swarms has shown the presence of complex group behaviors from interactions of many simple individual robots. At the end of the symposium, McLurkin will release the robot swarm.

Allan Hook of St. Edward's University will discuss why some insect swarms exploit swarms of other insect species.