IIT-Mandi uses quantum-inspired perception to explain flocking and swarming behaviour

Tribune News Service

Mandi, September 30

Why do birds flock, fish school, or humans move in sync—often without a leader? A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi believes the answer may lie in how perception works, inspired not by biology, but by quantum physics.

Led by Prof. Laxmidhar Behera, Director of IIT Mandi, along with Dr. Jyotiranjan Beuria and Mayank Chaurasiya, the team has proposed a groundbreaking mathematical framework based on quantum-inspired perception. Their research, recently published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A, offers a fresh explanation for how coordination emerges in nature.

Traditional models of collective motion, such as the Vicsek model, rely on the idea that individuals (or agents) align their movement by directly responding to their neighbors. While useful, these classical models struggle to explain real-world complexities like delays in response, noisy environments, or incomplete information.

Instead, the IIT Mandi team introduces the idea that agents do not instantly decide on an action. Much like quantum particles, each agent’’s perception exists in a superposition—a blend of multiple possible states—before it settles into a definite choice. This concept, inspired by quantum mechanics, allows for a more flexible and dynamic understanding of how coordination occurs.

“Our work shows that quantum-inspired ideas can move beyond physics and provide fresh insight into one of nature’s oldest mysteries: how collective order arises out of local perception,” said Prof. Behera. “This could have powerful implications in neuroscience, robotics, and artificial intelligence.”

Researchers introduced two key concepts:

Perception strength – how strongly an agent aligns with the perceptual states of others

Perceptual energy – how stable the collective perception is across the group

These measures provide a way to quantify how groups self-organise, even when individual agents receive conflicting or partial information. Notably, the team proved that classical models are just special cases of their broader quantum-inspired framework.

The applications of this research are wide-ranging. In biology, it sheds light on how swarms or flocks remain cohesive even in chaotic conditions—not just by reacting physically, but through complex perception. In robotics, especially in swarm drones or autonomous vehicles, this model could lead to more resilient and adaptive group behavior.

In neuroscience, the model echoes how the human brain deals with ambiguous perception, sudden decisions, and shifting attention. And in AI, it suggests new ways to manage uncertainty—moving beyond brittle, rule-based systems to more flexible, perception-driven decision-making.

By uniting principles from quantum theory with real-world systems, IIT Mandi’s study marks a significant step toward understanding both natural and artificial intelligence through the lens of perception.