Collective evolution learning model for vision-based collective motion with collision avoidance

PLoS One. 2023 May 10;18(5):e0270318. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270318. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Collective motion (CM) takes many forms in nature; schools of fish, flocks of birds, and swarms of locusts to name a few. Commonly, during CM the individuals of the group avoid collisions. These CM and collision avoidance (CA) behaviors are based on input from the environment such as smell, air pressure, and vision, all of which are processed by the individual and defined action. In this work, a novel vision-based CM with CA model (i.e., VCMCA) simulating the collective evolution learning process is proposed. In this setting, a learning agent obtains a visual signal about its environment, and throughout trial-and-error over multiple attempts, the individual learns to perform a local CM with CA which emerges into a global CM with CA dynamics. The proposed algorithm was evaluated in the case of locusts' swarms, showing the evolution of these behaviors in a swarm from the learning process of the individual in the swarm. Thus, this work proposes a biologically-inspired learning process to obtain multi-agent multi-objective dynamics.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Avoidance Learning
  • Grasshoppers*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Motion

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.