Crowd Control: Understanding and Manipulating Collective Behaviors and Swarm Dynamics

Collective behaviors are all around us, from bird flocking, to mosh pit dynamics, to how the cells in our bodies work together. In this course, we explore not only how to understand and quantify these behaviors, but also how we can start to engineer them to reduce traffic, heal faster, develop new materials, and introduce new robotics approaches. The course spans three modules: hands-on training in analyzing real-world swarming systems; fundamental concepts underlying collective behaviors; and key case studies in manipulating these systems.