UROL:EN Emergent Energetic Regulation in Dynamic Biological Networks

调节机制对于将系统保持在期望的工作条件下是必不可少的。例如，人类的体温是由控制产热的神经元和激素的复杂网络调节的（例如，通过代谢活动）和损失（例如，通过出汗）以避免致命的体温过低或过高。典型的生物和工程调节机制采取以可预测的方式将传感器连接到致动器的电路的形式（例如，空调系统中的恒温器）。然而，由许多松散连接的和移动的单元组成的系统（例如，一群蚂蚁或一队自主机器人）很少表现出能够支持这种严格的调节回路的持久连接。在这种背景下，这项合作研究汇集了生物学家，理论家和工程师，以实现两个目标：了解高度可塑的集体系统如何在面对变化时自我调节（使用蚂蚁作为模型系统的能量调节），并推导出工程师人工分布式系统的一般原则，这些系统可以自主调节其集体活动，以在不确定的环境中保持功能。该项目还将为从K-12到博士的学生提供这是一个学习社会系统如何成功和失败的机会，以及自然过程的基本知识如何导致新的技术发展和工程应用。该项目有三个互补的组成部分。在组件1中，研究人员将对蚂蚁进行实验室实验，以研究生物群体是否表现出能量调节，以应对能量需求和可用性的弱变化和强变化，以及这如何影响它们的生物生产力。这些研究将结合联合收割机计算机视觉辅助行为观察来测量蚂蚁的个体和集体行为，并结合生理测量来确定它们的能量状态的动态。在组件2中，实验室实验的结果将用于开发一个网络理论框架，以阐明和工程师在分布式和高度动态的自组织单元集体中的能量调节。我们的目标将是设计可推广的抽象，允许理论分析，以确定哪些行为规则导致成功的集体监管或其失败。最后，在组件3中，研究人员将设计机器人群体集体能源管理的工程解决方案，并在模拟和实际机器人实验中评估其效率。我们的目标是建立一个群体，即使在动态和不可预测的工作环境中，也能够最佳地平衡能量供应和需求。最终，这一努力将导致建立一个新的范式，更好地理解松散连接的单位如何仍然可以集体维持功能和稳态，尽管经历了波动，他们的能量需求和/或他们的能力，以利用resources.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Regulation mechanisms are essential for keeping systems within desired working conditions. For instance, body temperature in humans is regulated by a complex network of neurons and hormones that control heat production (e.g., through metabolic activity) and loss (e.g., through sweating) to avoid fatal hypo- or hyperthermia. Typical biological and engineered regulation mechanisms take the form of circuits that connect sensors to actuators in a predictable way (e.g., a thermostat in an air conditioning system). However, systems that are composed of many loosely connected and mobile units (e.g., a colony of ants or a fleet of autonomous robots) rarely exhibit long-lasting connections that could support such rigid regulatory circuits. In this context, this collaborative research brings together biologists, theoreticians, and engineers to achieve two goals: understand how highly plastic collective systems regulate themselves in the face of changes (using energetic regulation in ants as a model system), and derive general principles to engineer artificial distributed systems that can autonomously regulate their collective activities to maintain function in uncertain environments. The project will also give students ranging from K-12 to Ph.D. an opportunity to learn how social systems succeed and fail at regulating themselves, and how fundamental knowledge of natural processes can lead to new technological developments and applications in engineering.The project has three complementary components. In Component 1, the researchers will perform laboratory experiments with ants to investigate whether biological collectives exhibit energetic regulation in response to both weak and strong variations in energy demand and availability, and how this impacts their biological productivity. These studies will combine computer vision-assisted behavioral observations to measure the individual and collective behaviors of the ants and physiological measurements to determine the dynamics of their energetic states. In Component 2, the result of the laboratory experiments will be used to develop a network-theoretic framework to elucidate and engineer energetic regulation in distributed and highly dynamic collectives of self-organizing units. The goal will be to design generalizable abstractions that allow for theoretical analysis to determine what behavioral rules lead to successful collective regulation or to its failure. Finally, in Component 3, the researchers will design engineering solutions for collective energy management in robotic swarms and evaluate their efficiency in simulations and in experiments with actual robots. The goal is to build a swarm that will be capable of optimally balancing energetic supply and demand, even in dynamical and unpredictable working environments. Ultimately, this effort will lead to establishing a new paradigm for better understanding how loosely connected units can nonetheless collectively maintain function and homeostasis, despite experiencing fluctuations in their energetic requirements and/or their ability to exploit resources.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.