1. DRILL Answer the following in your notebook: What is a swarm?
“A shiver of sharks.” In this sentence, shiver is used as a ____________ noun.
Swarm theory is the collective intelligence of groups of simple agents. Two types of swarm intelligence are ______ and ______.
A single agent searching and exploring is most likely an example of ______.

2. Swarm Theory: “The Wisdom of Crowds” ACO vs. PSO
Show the Spiderman & Friends video as a lead in to today’s activity later on in the class…

3. What is a Swarm?
A swarm is a collective noun used to describe a large group of animals, usually in motion (bees, ants, people, etc.).
Swarming is a behavior that describes how a group of individual animals/objects move together in the same direction all at once.
“A flock of seagulls.”
“A school of fish.”
“An army of ants.”

4. What is Swarm Theory?
Swarm Theory is the modeling and simulation of the collective behavior of groups of simple agents.
Some things most swarms have in common:
No one person is in control (there is no general)
Members only talk to those close to them
The collective behavior is organized/intelligent
The whole group is responsive to minute changes
Show the video

5. Why is Swarm Theory Important?
Computers have changed our lives:
Industry Emergencies
Military Internet
Management Transportation
Not all problems can be solved with traditional hardware and software!!!
Industry: Swarming can save money/time when routing materials, messages, etc.
Military: Swarms of simple, sensing robots could replace human scouts in hostile areas
Management: Swarm theory can help us make the best possible decision (honeybees)
Emergencies: Teams of robotic first responders for fires, earthquakes, etc.
Traffic Control: Swarm theory could improve congestion in the skies and on roadways
Internet: Protection from malware/spyware based on swarming intelligence
A thought on efficiency: ACO or PSO can be used to determine the number of people in this class whose last name begins with the letter “B”, but wouldn’t it be easier to simply sort the class list alphabetically and count them???
Swarm intelligence programs can be amazing
at solving complex problems…but amazing
isn’t always efficient.

6. Models for Swarming Behavior
“The whole is greater than the sum of each part.”
“Solve complex problems using simple agents.”
How do we choose which to use?
Ant Colony Optimization (ACO)
Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)
Works best for finding discrete solutions
Ants are great at finding the closest source of food
Ants use pheromones to communicate information
Birds are excellent at finding multiple sources of food simultaneously
Birds broadcast information locally
Works best for finding continuous solutions
Discrete solutions:
What is the shortest route to the nearest gas station?
What is the best choice between several options?
Discrete -> “There can be only one…”
Continuous solutions:
How many gas stations are there in a 1 mile radius of Poly?
Where are all of the people with March B-days located in this class?
Continuous -> “The possibilities are endless…”

7. Swarm Theory: “The Wisdom of Crowds”
At this point, pass out “U1 A1: Swarm Intelligence.doc” and perform the activity. Students may begin working on the homework if the activity finishes early.
Note: The homework assignment may change based on the outcome of the activity! :-)
Now let’s apply what we’ve learned!!!

8. Swarm Theory Homework: Read over tomorrow’s lecture (U1 L3.ppt)
Pop quiz is possible
Download and complete U1 H2.doc
Read the online article listed in the document
Answer the questions
Turn in your answers at start of class tomorrow
You should plan on ending a PSO subroutine
When all agents have found “food”
After some set period of time (even if no agents have found “food”)