Impact
Honey bee research sets global market abuzz
Nature-inspired algorithms help multiple computer servers work together on specific tasks such as image analysis, data mining and document retrieval
Honey bee synchronicity inspired new algorithms to help computer servers work together.
Credit and Larger Version
October 31, 2017
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.
NSF-supported researchers mimicked the food foraging behavior of honey bees to vastly improve how computer programs and devices work together in a rapidly growing global market worth over $50 billion. Just as honey bees perform various tasks in a highly synchronized and adaptable manner to benefit the colony, the researchers designed a novel set of step-by-step instructions to assign tasks to multiple computer servers. Major web hosting companies use the algorithm to analyze images, recognize objects and text, retrieve documents, and more. The algorithm also affects statistics, machine learning, data mining and other areas of computer science and engineering.
NSF Directorate(s):
Directorate for Engineering
Directorate for Biological Sciences
Locations
Georgia
New York
Related Awards
#8451032 Presidential Young Investigator: Computational Complexity and Rescheduling Algorithms
#8916006 Social Organization of Foraging by Honey Bees
Related Websites
The Honey Bee Algorithm: https://www.goldengooseaward.org/awardees/honey-bee-algorithm
This NSF Impact is one of thousands of research outcomes made possible by NSF that help fuel the U.S. economy, enhance national security and sustain U.S. global leadership by advancing knowledge. You can search for more NSF Impacts at https://www.nsf.gov/impacts.
Get Impacts by Email