Cemetery Organization, Brood Sorting, Data Analysis, and Graph Partitioning

Abstract

In the previous two chapters, foraging and division of labor were shown to be useful metaphors to design optimization and resource allocation algrithms. In this chapter, we will see that the clustering and sorting behavior of ants has stimulated researchers to design new algorithms for data analysis and graph partitioning. Several species of ants cluster corpses to form a “cemetery,” or sort their larvae into several piles. This behavior is still not fully understood, but a simple model, in which agents move randomly in space and pick up and deposit items on the basis of local information, may account for some of the characteristic features of clustering and sorting in ants. The model can also be applied to data analysis and graph partitioning: objects with different attributes or the nodes of a graph can be considered items to be sorted. Objects placed next to each other by the sorting algorithm have similar attributes, and nodes placed next each other by the sorting algorithm are tightly connected in the graph. The sorting algorithm takes place in a two-dimensional space, thereby offering a low-dimensional representation of the objects or of the graph. Distributed clustering, and more recently sorting, by a swarm of robots have served as benchmarks for swarm-based robotics. In all cases, the robots exhibit extremely simple behavior, act on the basis of purely local information, and communicate indirectly except for collision avoidance. In several species of ants, workers have been reported to form piles of corpses— literally cemeteries—to clean up their nests. Chretien [72] has performed experiments with the ant Lasius niger to study the organization of cemeteries. Other experiments on the ant Pheidole pallidula are also reported in Deneubourg et al. [88], and many species actually organize a cemetery. Figure 4.1 shows the dynamics of cemetery organization in another ant, Messor sancta. If corpses, or, more precisely, sufficiently large parts of corposes are randomly distributed in space at the beginning of the experiment, the workers form cemetery clusters within a few hours.