Connectionists: [Meetings] ANTS 2026 – Invited Talks and Call for Participation

[Groß, Roderich]

ANTS 2026 – 15th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence

📢 Call for Participation
This year’s theme, Reaching beyond – swarm intelligence across systems, disciplines, and communities, is reflected in six talks spanning swarm robotics, networked systems, collective dynamics, AI, ethics, smart materials, and planetary futures.

Invited talks

Guido de Croon (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
Swarms of small, autonomous drones
From bio-inspired intelligence to tiny flying robots capable of exploring unknown environments.

Sharon Glotzer (University of Michigan, USA)
Towards colloidal swarm robots
Exploring how active particle systems and “flexicles” open up new directions for emergent swarm-like robotic behaviour.

Jesús Gómez-Gardeñes (University of Zaragoza, Spain)
From interaction structure to collective dynamics
On how interaction structure shapes collective dynamics, from spreading processes and synchronisation to cooperation in complex systems.

Meeyoung Cha (Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, Germany; KAIST, South Korea)
AI, Society, and Computing: Leveraging Global Data While Tackling Ethical Challenges
On how global-scale data and AI can support humanitarian applications while confronting ethical risks such as bias, misinformation, and democratic harm.

Thomas Watteyne (Analog Devices, USA)
Swarm Robotics: A Low-Power Wireless Perspective
On communication, networking, and large-scale real-world swarm experimentation through the DotBots platform.

Liam Young (SCI-Arc, USA)
New planetary imageries
A speculative and cinematic perspective on environmental futures, storytelling, and the imaginaries that shape how we think about technology and the planet.

Alongside these invited talks, ANTS 2026 will feature technical presentations, posters, demos, and opportunities for exchange across disciplines working on collective behaviour and self-organised systems, natural and artificial.

We warmly invite researchers and practitioners from across swarm intelligence and related areas to join us in Darmstadt, and we would be grateful if you could share this call with colleagues and communities who may be interested.

📍 Darmstadt, Germany
🗓️ 8–10 June 2026
🌍 Theme: Reaching beyond – swarm intelligence across systems, disciplines, and communities
🔗 More information and registration: https://ants2026.org<https://ants2026.org/>

Follow us on Bluesky<https://bsky.app/profile/ants2026.bsky.social> and LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/in/ants-conferences-a2970b14b>

Hosted by Technical University of Darmstadt
Co-sponsored by Robotics Institute Germany

Organising Committee
General Chair
Roderich Gross, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Honorary Chair
Marco Dorigo, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Technical Program Chairs
Aaron T. Becker, University of Houston, USA
Gianni Di Caro, Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar
Bahar Haghighat, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
M. Ani Hsieh, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Late-Breaking Results Chairs
Anna Dornhaus, University of Arizona, USA
Mary Katherine Heinrich, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Conference Theme and Publicity Chair
Razanne Abu-Aisheh, University of Bristol, UK
Finance Chair
Grace McFassel, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Publication Chair
Mohamed S. Talamali, The University of Sheffield, UK
Paper Submission Chair
Julian Rau, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Local Organisation Committee
Usama Ali, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Uta Drews, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Ecem Isildar, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Suet Lee, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Jenny von Trzebiatowski, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

Steering Committee
Marco Dorigo, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Andries Engelbrecht, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Heiko Hamann, University of Konstanz, Germany
Alcherio Martinoli, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Radhika Nagpal, Princeton University, USA
Thomas Stützle, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Guy Theraulaz, CNRS CRCA, France
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