This website gives details on a fish tank demonstration that uses swarm intelligence techniques to simulate fish swimming. The demonstration allows users to add food for the fish as well as introduce a predator to the environment.
Both artificial life and swarm intelligence were initially inspired by nature which has shown evidence of being able to find solutions to highly complex problems. By using simplistic agents that do not require highly complex processing, these techniques can be used to great effect to solve a multitude of problems. By drawing on nature to inspire movement and using partical swarm techniques to search a search space, systems that are able to search extremely hostile environments can be developed cheaply with low cost parts.
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[5] Sina & Marie (2013) "Fish", image via The Noun Project Accessed: 2015-04-14 [View Online]
[6] Benn, O. (2012) "Shark", image via The Noun Project Accessed: 2015-04-14 [View Online]