Social Amoeba Dictyostelium Discoideum as an Inspiration for Swarm Robotics

Abstract

Dictyostelium discoideum is a social amoeba exhibiting distinct self-organising behaviour at different phases of its life - signalling lack of food, recruiting partners to create a single super-organism (fruiting body) and moving in a coordinated way towards areas with food. These phases and their underlying mechanisms are excellent models that we will apply to swarms of robots, for studying their adaptation to changing environments. Although Dictyostelium behaviour models provide a promising research path, not all phases are currently clearly modelled. To elucidate this issue, we are studying, simulating and visualising some of the phases of the intercellular Dictyostelium activities most relevant for further application to swarm robotics.