Practical seminar "Collective behaviour of living cognitive systems: from ants to complex social systems" at St Petersburg University

Ivan Lomakin presented an interdisciplinary study that bridges biology, physics and artificial intelligence. The report focused on collective behaviour of ants as a model for understanding complex social structures. 

The main idea of the project is to combine methods of statistical physics, complex systems theory, biology and social sciences to study the behaviour of the ant community. The object of the study was black garden ants (Lasius niger) as they have contrasting coloration, uniform colony structure and they are easy to keep. Ivan Lomakin presented the formicarium he created, i.e. a device for observing ants, consisting of a nest, a feeding arena, and an experimental arena.

The research methodology involves observing the behaviour of ants in an experimental arena, where researchers introduce various stimuli and change environmental conditions.

Ivan Lomakin developed an algorithm for tracking the movement of agents and created an activity map based on 52 experiments. He presented preliminary results showing how ants explore space and respond to stimuli. An important part of the study is a mathematical model of ant behaviour based on the concept of orthogonal random walk, taking into account the influence of the environment and interactions between agents. 

Oleg Granichin, Scientific Director of the seminar, Professor in the Department of System Programming at St Petersburg University, appreciated Ivan Lomakin’s approach. "Such simple models as the one presented today can solve a very large number of complex problems. What Ivan Lomakin told us today can be used as an example of interdisciplinary thinking," commented Oleg Granichin, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics.

Ivan Lomakin also shared plans for the development of the project. They are planning to increase the size of the colony, vary the size and shape of the experimental arena, develop additional models of interaction between agents, and introduce the concept of Levi flight into the model. The ultimate goal is to create a model to predict the dynamic behaviour of cognitive living systems.

After the presentation, Ivan Lomakin answered a number of questions about the technical aspects of the modelling, the goals of the experiment, and its use in understanding human behaviour. He drew attention to the importance of observing live ants, not just the model, in order to avoid errors in understanding their behaviour. Ivan Lomakin and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence also discussed the possibilities of using the project in the field of machine learning. 

Following the seminar, Oleg Granichin suggested discussing this topic during the following meetings. He highly appreciated Ivan Lomakin’s professionalism. "Ivan seemed to have reduced everything to simple ants, yet in fact he applied his experience from the theory of plasticity to a completely different area, i.e. social systems and physiology. This is how we should implement an interdisciplinary approach in research," said Professor Oleg Granichin.