‘Infotaxis’ as a strategy for searching without gradients

Massimo Vergassola, Emmanuel Villermaux and Boris I. Shraiman ()
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Massimo Vergassola: CNRS URA 2171, Institut Pasteur, “In Silico Genetics”
Emmanuel Villermaux: Technopole Chateau Gombert
Boris I. Shraiman: University of California

Nature, 2007, vol. 445, issue 7126, 406-409

Abstract: Information trail Chemotactic bacteria are guided towards the source of a nutrient by local concentration gradients. That works on the microscopic scale, but at larger scales such local cues are unreliable pointers — for example, wind or water currents may disperse odours sought by foraging animals. Using statistical techniques, Vergassola et al. have developed a general search algorithm for movement strategies based on the detection of sporadic cues and partial information. The strategy, termed 'infotaxis' as it maximizes the expected rate of information gain, could find application in the design of 'sniffer' robots.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05464

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