 | ANTS 2026: 15th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence Darmstadtium - Science and Congress Center Darmstadt, Germany, June 8-10, 2026 |
| First Call for Papers |
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| ANTS 2026 |
| 15th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence |
| June 8-10, 2026. darmstadtium - Science and Congress Center, Darmstadt, Germany |
| https://ants2026.org |
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| Conference Scope |
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| Since its inception in 1998, ANTS has been a highly selective, single-track meeting that provided a forum for discussing advances in the field of swarm intelligence. It solicits submissions presenting significant, original research from researchers and practitioners of any area related to swarm intelligence. |
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| Swarm intelligence is an interdisciplinary and rapidly evolving field, rooted in the study of self-organizing processes in both natural and artificial systems. Researchers from disciplines ranging from ethology to statistical physics have developed models that explain collective phenomena, such as decision-making in social insect colonies and collective movements in human crowds. Swarm-inspired algorithms and methods have proven effective in solving complex optimization problems and creating multi-robot and networked systems of unparalleled resilience, adaptability and scalability. Applications of swarm intelligence continue to grow and become increasingly critical for addressing societal challenges such as environmental sustainability, food security, health, and global conflicts. |
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| The 2026 edition’s theme is "reaching beyond - swarm intelligence across systems, disciplines, and communities". The meeting seeks to encourage new perspectives, help bridge traditional boundaries and enable open debate on what could be ambitious, exploratory, and groundbreaking endeavors to embark on. |
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| Relevant Research Topics |
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| Papers are solicited in all areas of swarm intelligence, including, but not limited to: |
- Theoretical foundations of swarm intelligence and collective phenomena
- Modeling and analysis of self-organizing systems in nature, including many-particle systems, cellular systems, insect colonies, bird flocks, and human crowds
- Decision making in large groups e.g. consensus dynamics, mean-field games, social choice theory
- Swarm robotics, including colloidal systems, micro-robots, drones, and other autonomous vehicles
- Swarm optimization algorithms, including ACO, PSO, ABC
- LLMs and GenAI-in-the-loop systems in combination with swarm intelligence
- Large-scale distributed networks, such as smart dust, smart cities, or social networks
- Robotic materials and modular robots capable of self-repair, self-assembly or shape-shifting
- Distributed learning, coordination, and control in many-agent systems
- Human-centered swarm intelligence and human-swarm interaction
- Sustainable technologies for artificial and bio-hybrid swarms
- Creative and expressive uses of swarm principles in art, design and education
- Benchmarking and reproducibility in swarm intelligence research
- Ethical and societal implications of applications of swarm intelligence research
- Applications of swarm intelligence to real-world challenges
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| Important Dates |
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| Submission deadline: November 10, 2025 |
| Notification of acceptance: January 30, 2026 |
| Camera ready copy: February 13, 2026 |
| Conference: June 8-10, 2026 |
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| Plenary Talks |
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| Sharon Glotzer, University of Michigan, USA |
| Tamas Vicsek, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary |
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| Perspective Talks |
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| Thomas Watteyne, Analog Devices, USA |
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| Submitting to ANTS 2026 |
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| Submissions should be from 7 to 11 pages, excluding references, when typeset in the LNCS Springer LaTeX template. |
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| Publication Details |
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| All accepted contributions will be included in the proceedings of ANTS 2026, which will be published by Springer in the LNCS series. The journal Swarm Intelligence will publish a special issue dedicated to ANTS 2026 that will contain extended versions of selected research works presented at the conference. Further details will be published on the web site. |
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| Conference Location |
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| For the first time, the ANTS conference series will take place in Darmstadt, Germany. ANTS 2026 will be hosted by the Technical University of Darmstadt at the darmstadtium - Science and Congress Center, located in the heart of the city. The venue is walking distance to the UNESCO World Heritage site Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, offering attendees a unique opportunity to experience both ground-breaking research and the rich cultural heritage of the city. |
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| ANTS 2026 Organizing Committee |
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| General chair |
| Roderich Gross, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany |
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| Honorary chair |
| Marco Dorigo, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium |
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| Technical program chairs |
| Aaron T. Becker, University of Houston, USA |
| Gianni Di Caro, Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar |
| Bahar Haghighat, University of Groningen, The Netherlands |
| M. Ani Hsieh, University of Pennsylvania, USA |
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| Publicity chair |
| Razanne Abu-Aisheh, University of Bristol, UK |
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| Publication chair |
| Mohamed Salah Talamali, The University of Sheffield, UK |
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| Local organizing committee |
| Usama Ali, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany |
| Uta Drews, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany |
| Ecem Isildar, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany |
| Jenny von Trzebiatowski, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany |
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| Paper submission chair |
| Julian Rau, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany |
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| ANTS 2026 Steering Committee |
| Marco Dorigo, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium |
| Andries Engelbrecht, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa |
| Heiko Hamann, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany |
| Alcherio Martinoli, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Radhika Nagpal, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA |
| Thomas Stuetzle, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium |
| Guy Theraulaz, CNRS CRCA, Toulouse, France |
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