Swarms are multiagent systems where each agent is inherently simple. The interest in swarms arises from the complex behaviours that become apparent when many of the agents act together to form a 'swarm'. In these conditions, interesting patterns emerge which have numerous applications in artificial intelligence.
This has led to the study of swarm intelligence which is 'The emergent collective intelligence of groups of simple agents' (Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems, page xi). There are examples of this in nature and applications of it in scientific and industrial fields.
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Above: Birds flocking and avoiding obstacles.
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Above: Ants foraging for food and using pheromone trails to
communicate.