Second Workshop on Swarming in Natural and Engineered Systems
Philadelphia, PA
May 16-17, 2007

Goals | Participants | Schedule | Accommodations | Pictures  |  Organizers | Steering Committee | Proceedings | Sponsors | Directions

Goals

The workshop brings together experts in artificial intelligence, control theory, robotics, systems engineering and biology with the goal of understanding swarming behaviors in nature and applications of biologically-inspired models of swarm behaviors to large networked groups of autonomous vehicles. We are specifically interested in developing a framework and methodology for the analysis of swarming behavior in biology and the synthesis of bio-inspired swarming behavior for engineered systems. The workshop will have three overarching themes. (1) Scaling of group behaviors with numbers of individuals and the size of individuals in nature and the design of scalable algorithms for networked vehicles. (2) The role of selfishness in aggregation and the implication for robotic swarms. (3) Decentralized approaches to estimation and control for applications beyond navigation. A key goal of the workshop is to delineate a research program in swarming highlighting key intellectual issues that will help bring a diverse community of scientists and engineers together. Invited talks and short oral presentations will set the stage for in-depth discussions on this subject, while posters will feature the latest research results.

  

Schedule and Venue

Pictures from the workshop

The workshop was held on May 16-17, 2007 at the Berger Auditorium, Skirkanich Hall. A detailed schedule is available here.

The workshop will feature invited talks, presentations, posters, and discussions. Posters can be at most 4 feet high and 3 feet wide. Each poster presenter will have an easel with two arms for support. Presenters are encouraged to mount their posters on a foam core. 

Accommodations

Because this is the commencement week at the University of Pennsylvania, you are urged to call as soon as possible to make your room reservations. A list of hotels within walking distance is available here...

Registration

The workshop is limited to 60 participants. Please contact the organizers at swarmsworkshop @  grasp.upenn.edu as soon as possible if you are interested in attending. A registration fee of $100 will be charged to defray the costs of meals. Credit card payments will be accepted on site.

Workshop Co-Chairs

Vijay Kumar, Julia Parrish, and David Skelly

Steering Committee

Francesco Bullo, University of California, Santa Barbara
Ali Jadbabaie, University of Pennsylvania
Daniel E. Koditschek, University of Pennsylvania
Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania
A. Stephen Morse, Yale University
George Pappas, University of Pennsylvania
Daniela Rus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
S. Shankar Sastry, University of California, Berkeley
David Skelly, Yale University

Proceedings

We will compile a collection of position papers, which will form the basis of a report highlighting the challenges to understanding group behaviors in biology and synthesizing group behaviors in engineering systems. In addition, we are will publish contributed research papers in a book which will be available through Springer Verlag.

Sponsors

The workshop is organized with support from the Army Research Office, the Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin ATL, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania.

 

[SWARMS website]

ARL logoBoeing logo
penn eng logo