Who Needs a Driver? These Navy Boats Are Programmed to Swarm Like Bees

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Who Needs a Driver? These Navy Boats Are Programmed to Swarm Like Bees

 

Using algorithms based on the swarming behavior of ants and bees, the U.S. Navy is turning to driverless boats to protect its ships

By Randy Rieland

 

smithsonian.com

 

October 14, 2014

This August, on the James River in Virginia, the U.S. Navy staged the kind of scene you’d expect to see at the beginning of a James Bond movie. As a large ship moved through the water, a helicopter overhead spotted an unidentified boat approaching and sent a warning to a small fleet of escort boats. Some were armed with loudspeakers, others with flashing lights, another with a .50 caliber machine gun.

 

Once the fleet zeroed in on the threatening vessel with radar and infrared sensors, some of the escort boats broke away and quickly encircled it. They flashed lights and blasted warnings through loudspeakers. Threat resolved.

 

All of the escort boats were unmanned—and yet they moved together as a group, thanks to what’s known as “swarm intelligence.”