Welcome to the Collective! Secret Science Club Presents Biologist & Director of the Swarm Lab Simon Garnier

Ants, migrating birds, and other animals that move (and seem to think) as collectives exhibit uncanny behavior — swarming, murmurating, ebbing and flowing almost like liquids. Such natural phenomena have inspired scientists to create swarms of small robots that swim, crawl, and fly en masse. Alone, each of these robots is none too smart. But as a group? Their collective intelligence could solve all kinds of problems.

In the future, robot swarms might build habitats on Mars, conduct search-and-rescue missions, or (gulp) autonomously attack enemies. At the next Secret Science Club, biologist Simon Garnier explores the history and potential of swarm robotics.

Director of the Swarm Lab and professor of biology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Simon Garnier researches robot swarms, army ants, and socially networked slime molds to learn how intelligent collective behaviors (and not so intelligent ones) emerge in groups. He also considers the question of self-organization in nature — in everything from cells to human crowds. Dr. Garnier has been a featured scientist on Science Friday, the Guardian technology video series, National Geographic, Scientific American, and Mashable.

–Try our hive-minded cocktail of the night, the Perfect Swarm    

–Pulse & flow with synchronized grooves

–Stick around for the scintillating Q&A