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  • Open Access

Acoustic Signaling Enables Collective Perception and Control in Active Matter Systems

Alexander Ziepke1, Ivan Maryshev1, Igor S. Aranson2,*, and Erwin Frey1,3,†

  • *Contact author: isa21@psu.edu
  • †Contact author: frey@lmu.de
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Phys. Rev. X 15, 031040 – Published 12 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m1hl-d18s

Abstract

Emergent cooperative functionality in active matter systems plays a crucial role in various applications of active swarms, ranging from pollutant foraging and collective threat detection to tissue embolization. In nature, animals like bats and whales use acoustic signals to communicate and enhance their evolutionary competitiveness. Here, we show that information exchange by acoustic waves between active agents creates a large variety of multifunctional structures. In our realization of collective swarms, each unit is equipped with an acoustic emitter and a detector. The swarmers respond to the resulting acoustic field by adjusting their emission frequency and migrating toward the strongest signal. We find self-organized structures with different morphology, including snakelike self-propelled entities, localized aggregates, and spinning rings. These collective swarms exhibit emergent functionalities, such as phenotype robustness, collective decision making, and environmental sensing. For instance, the collectives show self-regeneration after strong distortion, allowing them to penetrate through narrow constrictions. Additionally, they exhibit a population-scale perception of reflecting objects and a collective response to acoustic control inputs. Our results provide insights into fundamental organization mechanisms in information-exchanging swarms. They may inspire design principles for technical implementations in the form of acoustically or electromagnetically communicating microrobotic swarms capable of performing complex tasks and concerting collective responses to external cues.

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Popular Summary

A major challenge in designing intelligent swarms of tiny robots or particles is figuring out how they can coordinate their behavior using only simple rules. In this study, we explore a new solution that uses sound. We show that when self-propelled particles, called active agents, can both emit and detect sound, they can organize themselves into complex, moving structures like blobs, snakes, and spinning rings. These formations are not just interesting shapes—they can sense their environment, make collective decisions, and even recover their shape after being disturbed.

To test this idea, we build a computer model where each agent follows two basic rules: It moves toward louder sounds and changes how it generates sound based on what it hears. We simulate these agents in both particle-based and field-based models and find that they can synchronize with each other over long distances using only acoustic signals. By adjusting parameters such as how sensitive they are to sound or how fast they move, we see different types of group behavior emerge. Some of these structures were especially robust—if part of a “snake” broke off or was squeezed, it could regrow or reassemble.

Our findings show that sound is a powerful tool for creating smart, adaptable behaviors in swarms of active matter. Unlike previous methods that rely on short-range chemical signals, sound enables fast, reversible, and long-distance coordination. This opens exciting possibilities for future technologies, such as microrobots that can work together to explore environments, deliver drugs, or respond to changes.

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Phys. Rev. X 15, 031040– Published 12 August, 2025
  • Received 3 October 2024
  • Accepted 22 May 2025
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