Bees solve complex mathematical problem

The ‘Travelling Salesman Problem’ is no problem for bumblebees, researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London have discovered. The study shows that bees fly the shortest route between flowers, even if they discovered the flowers in different orders. Bees are the first animal to be found to do this.

Companies invest big money into solving the ‘Travelling Salesman Problem’ – whereby the shorted route possible is planned for a salesperson ‘on the move’. This task is usually left up to a computer, which can take days to assess the length of every possible route and choose the shortest.

By creating a controlled environment with artificial flowers, scientists at Royal Holloway watched the bees explore the flowers and subsequently learn the fastest route around – even with a brain the size of a grass seed.

Researcher Nigel Raine has been involved in the research and sums up the research; “Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum. Despite their tiny brains bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behaviour. We need to understand how they can solve the ‘Travelling Salesman Problem’ without a computer. What short-cuts do they use?”

It is not only the ‘Travelling Salesman Problem’ which uses computers to track routes – discovering the bees’ secret could also help with networks such as traffic on the roads, information flow on the web and business supply chains.

Published: Tuesday, 26th October 2010 by Adelle Kehoe