Mobile Robotic Systems Group, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Artificial Life Lab, Department of Zoology, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Sci Robot. 2023 Mar 22;8(76):eadd7385. doi: 10.1126/scirobotics.add7385.
Robotic technologies have shown the capability to interact with living organisms and even to form integrated mixed societies composed of living and artificial agents. Biocompatible robots, incorporating sensing and actuation capable of generating and responding to relevant stimuli, can be a tool to study collective behaviors previously unattainable with traditional techniques. To investigate collective behaviors of the western honeybee (), we designed a robotic system capable of observing and modulating the bee cluster using an array of thermal sensors and actuators. We initially integrated the system into a beehive populated with about 4000 bees for several months. The robotic system was able to observe the colony by continuously collecting spatiotemporal thermal profiles of the winter cluster. Furthermore, we found that our robotic device reliably modulated the superorganism's response to dynamic thermal stimulation, influencing its spatiotemporal reorganization. In addition, after identifying the thermal collapse of a colony, we used the robotic system in a "life-support" mode via its thermal actuators. Ultimately, we demonstrated a robotic device capable of autonomous closed-loop interaction with a cluster comprising thousands of individual bees. Such biohybrid societies open the door to investigation of collective behaviors that necessitate observing and interacting with the animals within a complete social context, as well as for potential applications in augmenting the survivability of these pollinators crucial to our ecosystems and our food supply.
机器人技术已经显示出与生物体相互作用的能力，甚至能够形成由活体和人工代理组成的集成混合社会。具有生物相容性的机器人，结合了能够产生和响应相关刺激的传感和致动能力，可作为一种工具来研究以前无法通过传统技术实现的集体行为。为了研究西方蜜蜂（）的集体行为，我们设计了一个能够使用热传感器和执行器阵列观察和调节蜂群的机器人系统。我们最初将该系统集成到一个有大约 4000 只蜜蜂的蜂巢中，持续了几个月。机器人系统能够通过连续收集冬季集群的时空热分布来观察群体。此外，我们发现我们的机器人设备能够可靠地调节超生物体对动态热刺激的反应，影响其时空重组。此外，在识别出一个群体的热崩溃后，我们通过其热执行器以“生命支持”模式使用机器人系统。最终，我们展示了一种能够与包含数千个个体蜜蜂的集群进行自主闭环交互的机器人设备。这种生物混合社会为研究需要在完整社会背景下观察和与动物相互作用的集体行为打开了大门，并且还为增强这些对我们的生态系统和食物供应至关重要的传粉媒介的生存能力提供了潜在应用。
