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PrincetonUniversity
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Autonomous yet coordinated. Associate professor
Naomi Leonard is part of a project to build a fleet of
underwater vehicles that emulate the autonomous yet
coordinated motion of a school of fish.
The project, funded by a $2.6
million grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to
integrate disparate areas of research, from biologists who
will analyze schools of fish to engineers who will develop
strategies for coordinating groups of man-made vehicles. The
research is expected to culminate three years from now in
testing a fleet of a dozen underwater vehicles in DeNunzio
Pool.
In the Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering Department, Leonard specializes in
nonlinear control theory and its applications. She is one of
six scientists from Yale, Harvard, University of Washington
and Princeton who are leading the project.
The scientists hope the
project will yield insights into an age-old problem in
biology: How does a group -- whether schools of fish, flocks
of birds or herds of land animals -- move in a synchronized,
seemingly intelligent way in the absence of any apparent
leadership? "We're going to try to emulate their ability to
take the relatively dumb individuals and come up with a more
intelligent whole," says Leonard.
• Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering home page
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