Interactive robotic fish for the analysis of swarm behavior

Abstract

Biomimetic robots can be used to analyze social behavior through active interference with live animals. We have developed a swarm of robotic fish that enables us to examine collective behaviors in fish shoals. The system uses small wheeled robots, moving under a water tank. The robots are coupled to a fish replica inside the tank using neodymium magnets. The position of the robots and each fish in the swarm is tracked by two cameras. The robots can execute certain behaviors integrating feedback from the swarm's position, orientation and velocity. Here, we describe implementation details of our hardware and software and show first results of the analysis of behavioral experiments. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.