Closed-loop real-virtual interactions validate 3D model of social coordination in fish.

Authors

Ramón Escobedo, Justine Reynaud, Renaud Bastien, Stéphane Sanchez, Clément Sire, Guy Theraulaz

Published in

PLoS computational biology. Volume 22. Issue 8. Pages e1014544. Aug 03, 2026. Epub Aug 03, 2026.

Abstract

Collective motion in animal groups arises from social interactions rules, yet uncovering these rules requires quantitative models grounded in real behavior. We developed a fully three-dimensional, data-driven model of pairwise interactions in the schooling fish Hemigrammus rhodostomus, reconstructing attraction, alignment from experiments with two real fish swimming freely in a hemispherical bowl. Simulations of this model quantitatively reproduced empirical distributions of speed, distance, and orientation. We then embedded the model into a closed-loop virtual reality system, allowing a real fish to interact in real time with a virtual conspecific whose movements were governed by the same interaction rules. This biohybrid setup revealed that the model captures key social interactions underlying coordinated swimming. Our results establish a robust validation framework linking data, models, and behavior, paving the way for hybrid biological-digital collectives.

PMID:
42546064
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Aug 2026.

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