'Blueswarm' Robots Synchronize Movements like School of Fish

Schools of fish demonstrate complex, synchronized behaviors that help them find food, migrate, and evade predators. Scientists have long been interested in this type of decentralized, autonomous self-organization and coordination, especially in the field of robotics. Now, a team of Harvard  researchers have developed fish-inspired robots that can synchronize their movements like a real school of fish, without any external control. It is the first time researchers have demonstrated complex 3D collective behaviors with implicit coordination in underwater robots. The fish-inspired robotic swarm is dubbed Blueswarm. Based on the simple production and detection of LED light, the robotic collective exhibits complex self-organized behaviors, including aggregation, dispersion, and circle formation.