Project description
How bees inspire smarter technologies
Featuring tiny brains and just about a million neurons, bees are incredible problem-solvers. They can navigate complex environments, recognise flowers and adapt to changes in lighting or orientation with remarkable speed and efficiency. This makes them a compelling model for understanding how biological systems handle object recognition – a skill humans and animals rely on daily. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FACETS project will study how bees’ brains, bodies and environment work together to process information. Project research will uncover insights that could inspire more efficient robotic and AI systems, helping machines think and adapt more like nature’s living beings.
Objective
Object recognition is a fundamental cognitive task, central to how biological organisms interact with their environments. This capacity enables identification, categorisation, and informed decision-making, forming the basis of perception, navigation, and goal-directed behaviour. In humans and many animals, object recognition is not only fast but also remarkably robust against environmental variability, such as changes in lighting, orientation, or scale. Yet, despite advances in artificial intelligence (AI), replicating this capacity in artificial systems remains a significant challenge. One of the major limitations in AI lies in our incomplete understanding of how biological systems, particularly those with compact and efficient neural architectures, achieve these feats of visual cognition. Among biological systems, bees represent a compelling model. Despite their miniature brains and limited number of neurons (~1 million, compared to ~86 billion in humans), bees demonstrate complex cognitive behaviours, including high-speed visual processing, precise spatial navigation, and object (flower) recognition under varying conditions. Bees achieve this with exceptional metabolic and computational efficiency – a feature that aligns with key challenges in robotic and AI systems constrained by power, size, and real-time processing requirements. This FACETS project proposes to explore the mechanisms of object recognition in bees through the lens of embodied cognition – the theory that cognition arises from dynamic interactions between the brain, the body, and the environment. The project leverages my multidisciplinary background in behavioural ecology, insect neuroscience, morphometrics, and computational modelling, as well as the Institut des Sciences du Mouvement (ISM)’s expertise in advanced modelling and bio-inspired technologies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences behavioural ecology
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
13284 Marseille
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.