Robots mediating interactions between animals for interspecies collective behaviors.

Area of Science:

• Collective behavior and biohybrid systems.
• Robotics and artificial intelligence.
• Interspecies communication and collective intelligence.

Background:

• Self-organized collective behavior in animals emerges from individual interactions without global rules.
• Robots are increasingly used to study animal decision-making, forming biohybrid systems.
• Current robots are species-specific, limiting the integration of diverse perceptual and behavioral capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate robots facilitating interaction and information transfer between different animal species.
• To explore the potential of biohybrid systems for interspecies collective decision-making.
• To overcome species-specific limitations in current robotic collaborators.

Main Methods:

• Robots were socially integrated into separate groups of honeybees and zebrafish.
• These robots enabled communication and interaction between the two distinct animal species.
• The system operated across different environments (air and water) and distances.

Main Results:

• Interspecific information transfer was achieved, leading to emergent collective decisions between honeybees and zebrafish.
• The robots successfully bridged species barriers and ecosystems, functioning in both air and water.
• Behavioral patterns in a multi-species biohybrid group were generated and controlled.

Conclusions:

• Robots can facilitate novel interspecies connections and collective intelligence.
• Biohybrid systems with diverse robotic and animal species offer new avenues for AI.
• This approach could enhance autonomous decision-making by leveraging animal perceptual capabilities for ecological applications.