| Simon GARNIER 27 years old Nationality: french Current address: CRCA, UMR CNRS 5169, Université Paul Sabatier, Bât. 4R3, b3, 118, route de Narbonne 31062, Toulouse cedex 4 |
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Current Position
PhD position at the Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA, Toulouse), with a specialization in studying and modelling collective behaviors involving self-organized mechanisms and in transfering them to groups of small autonomous robots. My current research projects are:
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Project #1: Implementation in a group of micro-robots of the aggregation behavior displayed by the cockroach Blattella germanica and design of a collective decision process based on this clustering behaviour.
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Project #2: Design of a collective path selection process for micro-robots based on a general model of ants pheromone trail laying.
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Project #3: Experimental study and modelling of self-organized processes in pedestrians streams.
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Project #4: Experimental study and modelling of collective path selection in a network of tunnels in the ant Linepithema humile.
Education
| 2003-2004 | DEA Neurosciences, Behavior and Cognition. French post-graduate degree from the University of Toulouse 3 - Paul Sabatier (FRANCE) - 1st class honours. |
| 2002-2003 | M.Sc. in Behavior and Neurosciences from the University of Toulouse 3 - Paul Sabatier (FRANCE) - 1st class honours. |
| 2001-2002 | B.Sc. in Biochemistry, Cellular Biology and Physiology from the University of Bordeaux 2 - Victor Segalen (FRANCE) - 1st class honours. |
Research interests and skills
| Interests | Studying collective behaviors with probabilistics descriptions of individual behaviors linked to the emergence of collective behaviors. Modelling collective behaviors in computer simulations (IBM and Monte Carlo) and in experiments with swarms of autonomous micro-robots. |
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Computer: MacOS 9 & X, Linux, Windows; Statistical analysis with the free software R; Edition of scientific documents with Latex ; Programming in C and C++.
Languages: French (mother tongue), English (written and spoken), rudiments in German and Spanish.
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Relevant work experience
| 2004-2008 | Teaching assistant at the University of Toulouse 3 - Paul Sabatier. Disciplines: animal behavior, experimental methodology, statistics, mathematical and computer modelling. |
| May-June 2006 | Visiting student at the Autonomous Systems Lab (director Prof. Dr. Roland Siegwart, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland), funded by an ATUPS grant from the University of Toulouse 3 - Paul Sabatier. |
| February 2005 | Visiting student at the Institute for Traffic and Economics (director Prof. Dr. Dirk Helbing, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany). |
| 2003-2004 | DEA research project “The embodiment of cockroach aggregation behavior in a group of micro-robots”, Collective Intelligence in Social Insects and Artificial Systems group (Guy Theraulaz & Christian Jost), Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA, Toulouse). |
| 2002-2003 | M.Sc. research project “The embodiment of cockroach behavior in a micro-robot”, Collective Intelligence in Social Insects and Artificial Systems group (Guy Theraulaz & Christian Jost), Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA, Toulouse |
Collaborators
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Asadpour, Masoud Biologically Inspired Robotics Group EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland Website |
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Campo, Alexandre IRIDIA Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium Website |
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Caprari, Gilles Autonomous Systems Lab ETHZ, Zurich, Switzerland Website |
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Fourcassié, Vincent Research Center on Animal Cognition Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France Website |
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Gautrais, Jacques Research Center on Animal Cognition Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France Website |
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Jeanson, Raphaël Research Center on Animal Cognition Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France Website |
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Jost, Christian Research Center on Animal Cognition Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France Website |
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Moussaid, Mehdi Research Center on Animal Cognition Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France and SOMS ETHZ, Zurich, Switzerland Website |
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Tâche, Fabien Autonomous Systems Lab ETHZ, Zurich, Switzerland Website |
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Theraulaz, Guy Research Center on Animal Cognition Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France Website |
Other hobbies and interests
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I play and teach handball at the USR Handball club.
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Photography, cinema and sports in general.