OPEN SPACE,
OPEN MIND

Exploring the Behavioral Principles of "Swarms" Using Tubifex Worms

Research

A system in which individual elements work together to perform a single function as a whole, even without a leader, is called an "autonomous distributed system."

One of the research subjects is the tubifex worm. It is a type of slender earthworm, about 0.3 mm in diameter, that lives at the bottom of rice paddies and other similar places."Mustard"If you place an object nearby, the group will move away from it. By representing these individual movements with a mathematical model, it is possible to reproduce the overall movement through simulation.

Understanding autonomous distributed systems is expected to lead to applications such as systems where multiple robots work together during disasters, and to gain insights into the essence of social systems, including human relationships.

August, 2024 Taken at the open campus event.

1:16-1:20 Video of earthworms
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxYBiBi3EbE

3:58-4:12 kilobot video
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmyTJSYw77g

Details of this research can be found here ↓
Mikami, D. Wakita, R. Kobayashi, A. Ishiguro, and T. Kano, Elongating, entwining, and dragging: mechanism for adaptive locomotion of tubificine worm blobs in a confined environment, Front. Neurorobot. 17:1207374. doi: 10.3389/fnbot.2023.1207374