Animals Don’t Collide in Crowds

Function

Flocks of birds travel by drawing a beautiful V formation. If something causes them to take off at once, they do not bump into each other, but move as a group. In an aquarium, one can see large groups of fish, like saury and mackerel, swimming around the tank without colliding with each other. There are no leaders in these groups, and they do not use language to communicate. Each member of the group assesses its surrounding environment and abides these three rules for movement: 1) Move in such a way that keeps other units at a certain distance; 2) Maintain a fixed distance from the closest unit; 3) Move parallel to the other units. These rules allow individual animals to form a perfectly ordered group, which not only protects them from natural predators (no animal is singled out), but also reduces the burden for each animal in watching out for predators.

Functional Classification

Resouce/Energy/Information Collection & Storage:
Location detection
Transfer/Dispose/Circulate:
Movement
Efficiency(Energy Saving, Resource Saving, Light):
Efficient arrangement
Defense/Stability:
Resistance to outside threats

Environmental Solution Classification

Related Literature

Technical Application

Products and Services

Type of Business

Proposals of Applied Technology

Group movement patterns can be used to develop new analysis methods for computers. It can also be used in designing robots that can carry out complicated tasks that are dangerous for humans, like exploring unknown planets, life-saving operations in disaster areas, or forestry jobs. Also useful would be the development of vehicles that can avoid collisions.

Proposals of Applied Industry

Related Life Style