Franck Ruffier, a researcher in bio-inspired robotics

Research Digital Science & Engineering
Projet Antcar ©Tifenn Ripoll - VOST Collectif / Institut Carnot STAR

Recently appointed to the ENSTA campus in Brest, Franck Ruffier is a CNRS research director in robotics in the ROBEX team at Lab-STICC. His research projects are inspired by living organisms. At the crossroads of biology and robotics, he explores animal vision to create frugal bio-inspired robots.

In this era of big data and rapid growth in data centers around the world, Franck Ruffier's research goes against the grain. His credo: to develop frugal robots using biomimetic perception.

Nature does a lot with very little. By drawing on visible phenomena in nature, such as the behavior of butterflies and ants, and especially their neuroanatomy, we can accurately model the visuomotor behavior of these animals and transfer it to small robots. To do this, we use images with a very low number of pixels, which generate a small amount of information and consume very little energy.

Franck Ruffier CNRS Research Director

Among Franck Ruffier's recent projects is “Flocking by eyes,” which focuses on the collective behavior identified in schools of fish or flocks of starlings. The swarm of robots developed is based on four identified rules: attraction (the desire to stay together); alignment (the desire to move in the same direction as one's neighbors); avoidance (of collisions); and anchoring (limiting the area of movement).

Another original project, “Antcar,” is inspired by Andalusian ants, whose vision relies on the massive visual contrasts present in their environment, such as those created by the horizon, trees, or buildings. This project requires much less complex and energy-intensive information than a high-resolution image for the robot to move.

The project, which received the Biomim'Expo 2025 award in the research category, is explained in more detail by Franck Ruffier in France Culture's « Avec sciences » podcast.

His arrival in Brittany has enabled Franck Ruffier to initiate new research activities focused on the maritime field (surface and underwater robots).

Franck Ruffier ©Germain Verhille

There are many similarities between insects and crustaceans in terms of their compound eyes and neural structure. This gives me many ideas for research projects to explore this new universe, always with frugality in mind.

To facilitate testing of future drones, a new experimental basin measuring 20 meters by 12 meters and 6 meters deep will soon be put into service on the ENSTA campus in Brest: an incredible playground, unique in France, which offers many opportunities for researchers.

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