Honey Bee ‘Waggle Dance’ Algorithm Helps Improve Business Efficiency

A Mathematical Procedure Based on the Behavior of Honey Bees May Improve Business Efficiency
Medicine & Law Weekly, 9/22/2006

A new mathematical procedure based on the behavior of honey bees is delivering sweet results for industry. Researchers at Cardiff University's Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) developed the procedure, or algorithm, after observing the "waggle dance" of bees foraging for nectar.

When a bee finds a source of nectar, it returns to the hive and performs a dance to show other bees the direction and distance of the flower patch and how plentiful it is. The other workers then decide how many of them will fly off to find the new source, depending on its distance and quality.

The MEC team's Bees Algorithm mimics this behavior. A computer can be set up to calculate the results of different settings on a manufacturing process. More computing power is then devoted to searching around the most successful settings, in the same way as more bees are sent to the most promising flower patches.

The algorithm has been shown to cope with up to 3,000 variables and is faster than existing calculations. By entering basic data about all or part of a company, or even just one machine, the MEC team can calculate the best outcome for a wide range of business processes. They have already used the Bees Algorithm to work out the most efficient settings on welding systems and for the design of springs.

The algorithm was unveiled by PhD student Afshin Ghanbarzadeh and his team at the recent internet-based Innovative Production and Machines Conference hosted by MEC as part of its work with the E.U.-funded Network of Excellence in this field…