I’ve decided to model my midterm project after the behavior of termites. A unique behavioral aspect about termites is how they communicate. A little-known fact about them is that they are blind, and so they only communicate through pheromones and vibrations (Traniello 1995). Pheromones are chemical signals that help termites recognize nest mates, a trail of food, or even the presence of danger. A fascinating experiment that has been done to see these communication methods in action, involves drawing an ink trail which the termites then follow and move around (Kershner 2018).
The video below demonstrates the experiment:
I will model my KittenBot after this by using Arduino and RobotBit to create a robot that follows a line too, as shown below:
Sources:
Traniello J.F.A., Robson S.K. (1995) Trail and Territorial Communication in Social Insects. In: Chemical Ecology of Insects 2. Springer, Boston, MA
Kershner, Ariel M., “Termite Trail-Following Behavior Elicited by Ballpoint Pen Ink” (2018). Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works. 49.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/undergrad_works/49