Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
Posted on behalf of a colleague:
"How do active-sensing agents like echolocating bats make sense of the extremely dense sensory inputs they receive in groups? Each bat in the group emits extremely loud calls, while trying to listen for its own faint echoes. However, effectively each bat mainly ends up hearing the loud calls and non-self echoes from its neighbours. What cues are individuals using in these surroundings that are simultaneously filled with too much and too little relevant information? This position investigates and characterizes how
individuals in groups of echolocating bats manage to fly while echolocating in groups despite the challenging sensorimotor scenario it presents. Potential work on other echolocating animal groups (edible nest swiftlets & oilbirds) also a possibility once a working system is in place.
The candidate will assemble a multi-sensor rig to quantify echolocating groups in the field engaged in various collective behaviours. Data from multi-sensor rig will also be used to reconstruct individual sensory inputs and rationalise the echolocating and flight strategies agents use in groups. Your project will be the ‘biology’ project parallel to the ongoing swarm robotics project studying how groups of active-sensing agents as a whole can move together."
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