Uploaded November 2011 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Three Hemisson robots employing the bio-inspired BEECLUST algorithm navigate through a thermal gradient. The robots stop upon collision with another robot and rest for a period that depends on the local temperature. This allows the robots to aggregate at the area of optimal temperature (indicated by the octagon at the right edge). Unlike in other robot experiments, which implement a light gradient to substitute the thermal gradient used in our biological experiments with honeybees, the Hemisson robots operate in a real thermal gradient in this experiment. The Hemisson robots are equipped with temperature sensors, which are located at the tips of two antennae in analogy to honeybees, whose ability to perceive thermal gradients is also based on two spatially separated antennae. The robots are still at a prototype stage.
Three Hemisson robots employing the bio-inspired BEECLUST algorithm navigate through a thermal gradient. The robots stop upon collision with another robot and rest for a period that depends on the local temperature. This allows the robots to aggregate at the area of optimal temperature (indicated by the octagon at the right edge). Unlike in other robot experiments, which implement a light gradient to substitute the thermal gradient used in our biological experiments with honeybees, the Hemisson robots operate in a real thermal gradient in this experiment. The Hemisson robots are equipped with temperature sensors, which are located at the tips of two antennae in analogy to honeybees, whose ability to perceive thermal gradients is also based on two spatially separated antennae. The robots are still at a prototype stage.
