Nature Is Lazy

Abstract

Most of us view the world in a centralized and hierarchical manner. Governments and businesses rely on organizations with someone “at the top” who collects information and issues orders down the hierarchy. But there is another view of the world that is entirely different. This view starts at the “bottom,” and realizes that much of the organization that we see does not stem from centralized control, but emerges from the local interactions of a multitude of entities (such as insects, people, and vehicles). These multitudes are swarms. Standard approaches to understanding swarms rely on inspiration from biology. This book focuses on a different inspiration, namely, physics. As we will discuss in this first chapter, physics-based approaches offer two unique qualities. The first is the realization that “nature is lazy.” This means that physical systems perform the minimal amount of work necessary. This is very important for swarm robotics, since robots are limited by the amount of power they have at their disposal. The second is that physics is the most predictive science, reducing complex systems to amazingly simple concepts. These concepts can be used to help us understand and design swarms, and they are illustrated with simulations and videos throughout the book.