From nature to robotics: insights of animals collective behaviors on the development of swarm intelligence and multi-robot systems

The collective behaviors observed in marine, terrestrial, and aerial animals, exhibiting fascinating phenomena that emerge from simple interaction rules among individuals, provide valuable inspiration for swarm intelligence (SI) and robotics. This paper summarizes foraging, hunting, following and aggregation four typical animal collective behaviors and explores their relationship with SI. Building on this, we present the state of the art of research efforts to explore the use of SI in addressing multi-robot coordination problems, focusing on three key topics: spatial organization, navigation, and collective decision-making. These insights are based on research indexed in the Web of Science database. Through the analysis of key aspects, this article identifies current challenges, future development directions, and application prospects from three perspectives: animals, swarm intelligence and robots. This review serves as an overview for scholars and professionals in the field of multi-robot systems.