A fishy tail

[Jim Goose]

Fish may hold secret to beating traffic chaos
By Abbie Thomas for ABC Science Online

Shoals of fish are able to move and turn in seamless formation by following simple rules that are like those used by car drivers, researchers say.

The research, which builds on earlier work showing that fish in large groups make better decisions than individuals or small groups, is reported in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Some of the most incredible sights in nature happen when animals form into groups and move together as if choreographed," said lead author James Herbert-Read, a PhD student in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney.

Many theories have been put forward about how animals might communicate in order to achieve this.

"But now we're finding that it's really, really simple," Mr Herbert-Read said.

The researchers filmed groups of two, four or eight mosquito fish (Gambusia holbrooki) in a square arena for five minutes and studied the movements of individuals in each group.

The images of the swimming fish were fed into tracking software which acts like many pairs of eyes to keep tabs on the direction and speed of each fish in the school and how it responds to other fish around it.
Self-aware cars

Mr Herbert-Read says that because schools of fish rarely suffer from crashes or congestion, the rules they use could also potentially be applied to robotic systems to solve traffic problems.

"If you could engineer a system where each car knew where each car was and they could respond to each other and communicate with each other, you would avoid traffic problems," he said.

"And we're starting to see that now, with sensors fitted in the newer cars coming out."

Mr Herbert-Read says the next stage of the research would be to find out how long ago in fish evolution these rules evolved.
Simple rules

The researchers used a technique called artificial neural networks to look for patterns in the data.

"It turns out the amazing synchronised swimming that fish in shoals exhibit is actually caused by each fish using very simple rules to respond to its neighbours," Mr Herbert-Read said.

"These rules include 'accelerate towards a neighbour that is far away from you' and 'decelerate when a neighbour is right in front of you'.

"We also found that a fish only responds to a single nearest neighbour at any one time.

"When we're driving, we use similar sorts of rules: we decelerate when someone's in front of us and accelerate if there's someone about to bump into you from behind."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-0...rivers/3653114

There you go... we just need to behave like fish...

[HULK EF]

ive found by watching others in a line up of cars.. Red light turns green.. then watched each ca hesitate before starting to go.. so by the time the 15th car in the line starts moving the green light has been showing for 10-15 seconds..

I always time my acceleration in time with the car in front of me.. -save's time/distance.. -imagine if all cars/driers could do the same....

[fg_nitro]

It's a load of rubbish. Not the fish swimming but applying the method to traffic.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0112082239.htm

[prydey]

Originally Posted by HULK EF

ive found by watching others in a line up of cars.. Red light turns green.. then watched each ca hesitate before starting to go.. so by the time the 15th car in the line starts moving the green light has been showing for 10-15 seconds..

I always time my acceleration in time with the car in front of me.. -save's time/distance.. -imagine if all cars/driers could do the same....

and if a driver should stall, you will end up up his clacker. contrary to popular belief, the lights are not the beginning of a grand prix.

[DJR-351]

Well the way i read it is......fish are smarter than us and if we want to be as smart as them we need a sensor fitted......

[CarTooner:-)]

Originally Posted by HULK EF

ive found by watching others in a line up of cars.. Red light turns green.. then watched each car hesitate before starting to go.. so by the time the 15th car in the line starts moving the green light has been showing for 10-15 seconds...

... -imagine if all cars/drivers could do the same....

This is especially frustrating where Right-turn Green-Arrows only seem to last long enough to allow ~3 cars to turn... especially if the motorist in front decides to have a cat-nap during the red light...

One of my fave movies [Minority Report] had scenes of automated traffic flows...
http://www.autointhenews.com/google-...tomated-future

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Well the way i read it is......fish are smarter than us and if we want to be as smart as them we need a sensor fitted......

Yes it proves fish are smarter than humans. The evolutionary process started when we came out of the sea but we left our brains behind in the rush!

[pottery beige]

exhibit 'A' the roadus fishus....

[66FAIRLANE]

So next time I get caught 'fishtailing' down the road.......but officer........

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by 66FAIRLANE

So next time I get caught 'fishtailing' down the road.......but officer........

You see this in synchronised driving, but that's completely different to what you see out on the road; the sync drivers know what they want to do, and where they want to go. It's done with purpose/intent/design (much like the fish). Try applying that to the general traffic and you'd need to eliminate all human intervention and let the car's systems, with preset destinations, take over.

[2011G6E]

Good point about the traffic lights...everyone watches the brake lights of the driver in front and waiting until he moves, making a stuttering chain reaction down the line, instead of all looking ahead to the lights and moving off virtually as one when it goes green. You sometimes see this happen in a big city with heavy traffic, but no so much anywhere else.

[fmc351]

This isnt a good thing, people in GT's and Barracudas would start picking off the smaller cars.

[66FAIRLANE]

Originally Posted by fmc351

This isnt a good thing, people in GT's and Barracudas would start picking off the smaller cars.

And this is not a good thing because????

[Chopped]

What a load of Carp..I mean crap !

Maybe just stop the crap drivers from driving.

[HULK EF]

Originally Posted by prydey

and if a driver should stall, you will end up up his clacker. contrary to popular belief, the lights are not the beginning of a grand prix.

the aim of the game is obviously being alert unlike the dim wits that hesitate for a few seconds before taking off. -multiplying with each car "slowly taking off".. -its frustrating..

[SB076]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Good point about the traffic lights...everyone watches the brake lights of the driver in front and waiting until he moves, making a stuttering chain reaction down the line, instead of all looking ahead to the lights and moving off virtually as one when it goes green. You sometimes see this happen in a big city with heavy traffic, but no so much anywhere else.

For good reason, I watch the car in front and not react to the lights. Sometimes the car in front doesnt go.

I learnt my lesson when on my ps all those years ago, I stopped at a T intersection behind another car - both turning left, car in front started to move forward so I look left and see no traffic going so I start moving forward only to see the car in front of me stopped in the interestion cause they were not sure where they were going - Anyway my car didnt stop in time and I hit them - my fault - I learnt to watch the car in front as they dont always do what you think they will do

[jcxr]

The title got me thinking, Peter Brock and Steve Irwin couldnt handle fish tails either.

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by fg_nitro

It's a load of rubbish. Not the fish swimming but applying the method to traffic.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0112082239.htm

Seems to work in Beijing ...

I always compare crossing the road in Beijing to swimming at the beach with a school of fish - if you are in the "zone", "at one" with the city - then you will make it safely.