Distributed problem solving in social insects

In a social insect colony, large numbers of individuals all follow the same set of behavioral rules. Without centralized control, these individuals' interactions with each other and with their environment result in the allocation of individuals to various tasks, and in the distribution of forag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnals of mathematics and artificial intelligence Vol. 31; no. 1-4; pp. 199 - 221
Main Authors Hirsh, Aaron E, Gordon, Deborah M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01.01.2001
Subjects
Data processing
Insects
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Summary:In a social insect colony, large numbers of individuals all follow the same set of behavioral rules. Without centralized control, these individuals' interactions with each other and with their environment result in the allocation of individuals to various tasks, and in the distribution of foragers among available food sources. We review this highly parallel and distributed form of information processing, discussing its potential sophistication, its actual performance in various groups of social insects, its general strengths and liabilities, and finally, the adaptations that compensate for these liabilities.
ISSN:1012-2443
1573-7470
DOI:10.1023/A:1016651613285