Third Workshop on Swarming in

Natural and Engineering Systems



Spring House Hotel
Block Island
Rhode Island
June 3-4, 2009



The workshop brings together experts in artificial intelligence, control theory, robotics, systems engineering and biology with the goal of understanding swarming behaviors in nature and applications of biologically-inspired models of swarm behaviors to large networked groups of autonomous vehicles. The workshop builds on a series of successful meetings on swarming and collective behavior. It will include papers, presentations and discussions on representations, software architecture, analysis methodologies, algorithms, and synthesis of bio-inspired swarming behaviors.

The workshop will emphasize three themes:

(1) Collective behaviors and cooperation in heterogeneous agents;

(2) Paradigms for small, medium and large groups; and

(3) Novel mathematical approaches to modeling, analysis and synthesis.

A key goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers from very diverse backgrounds. The invited talks and short oral presentations will be given by experts who are capable of addressing this broad audience, and will set the stage for in-depth discussions in a stimulating environment.

Organizers

Vijay Kumar (University of Pennsylvania), Daniela Rus (MIT), and A. Stephen Morse (Yale University).

Sponsors

The workshop is organized with support from the Army Research Office (ARO) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania.