From Nature to UAV - A Study on Collision Avoidance in Bee Congregation

Abstract

Insects engage in a variety of survival-related activities, including feeding, mating, and communication, which are frequently motivated by innate impulses and environmental signals. Social insects, such as ants and bees, exhibit complex collective behaviors. They carry out well-organized duties, including defense, nursing, and foraging, inside their colonies. For analyzing the behavior of any living entity, we selected honeybees (Apis Mellifera) and worked on a small portion of it. We have captured the video of honeybees flying close to a hive (human-made artificial hive) while the entrance was temporarily sealed which resulted in the” bee cloud”. An exploration of the flight trajectories executed and a 3D view of the” bee cloud” constructed. We analyzed the behaviors of honeybees, especially on their speed and distance. The results showed that the loitering honeybees performed turns that are fully coordinated, and free of sideslips so thus they made no collision between themselves which inspired us to propose a method for avoiding collision in unmanned aerial vehicle. This paper gives the collective behavioral information and analysis report of the small portion of data set (honeybees), that bee maintains a safe distance (35mm) to avoid collision.