Dissertation Proposal
Posted October 20th
I have spent the last month or so sitting on an vague subject area for my final year research and dissertation topic, and have finally managed to summarize it in the following title:
To what extent can the use of swarm intelligence provide a useful mechanic for future technology in domestic and social environments?
I have been really interested in the subject of flocking behavior for a while and have been inspired by the research done by Craig Reynolds, specifically his artificial life project “Boids” which simulates a flock of birds flying together using very basic principles.
Swarm Intelligence (S.I.) put simply is the collective behavior of a population of simple agents acting independently and following a basic set of rules that dictate their actions. This often leads to the emergence of a complex global behavior, which when harnessed correctly can prove a powerful problem-solving tool.
I aim to examine some existing applications of swarm intelligence, and hopefully draw some conclusions of my own to go about tackling the question.
