On August 22nd, the College of Control and Information Engineering successfully hosted the 2023 Academic Conference on Collective Intelligence and Cluster Robotics (SICRO2023), along with the First Workshop on Cluster Robotics and Cluster Construction at the Caotang Campus. The conference was attended by experts and scholars from universities, research institutes, and enterprises both domestically and internationally. Liu Chao, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Li Zhijie, Vice Dean of the College of Control and Information Engineering, as well as some faculty members and graduate student representatives, participated in the event. The conference was jointly chaired by Professor Ma Zongfang, Dean of the College of Control and Information Engineering, Professor Hu Tianjiang from Sun Yat-sen University, and Professor Peng Xingguang from Northwestern Polytechnical University.

The "Academic Conference on Collective Intelligence and Cluster Robotics (SICRO)" has been held continuously for three editions, aiming to promote the development of theories, methods, and applications related to biologically inspired collective intelligence and cluster robotics. This edition of the conference was hosted by our university's College of Control and Information Engineering, with the theme "Cluster Robotics and Cluster Construction." The conference adopted a hybrid format, including both online and offline participation, with more than 130 attendees.

Ma Zongfang provided an overview of the university and the college's discipline construction, expressing heartfelt gratitude to all the experts for their presence. He pointed out that the "14th Five-Year Plan" is a crucial phase for the College of Control and Information Engineering to deeply implement the university's "Information Discipline Rising Plan" and the "Intelligence+" strategic deployment. He hoped that the attending experts, in line with their own research directions, could offer guidance and assistance in the cross-integration of the college's core disciplines with areas such as collective intelligence and cluster robotics, thereby contributing to the intelligent transformation of the university's advantageous disciplines.

In the morning session, Professor Zhang Hepeng from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Researcher Li Guoqi from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Researcher Wang Zhengwei from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Liu Chao from Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, and Associate Professor Lei Xiaokang from Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology each delivered presentations with the following titles: "Collective Dynamics in Self-Driving Systems," "Pulse Neural Networks and Their Deployment in Neuromorphic Chips," "Nesting Behavior in Social Insect Colonies," "Key Technologies in 3D Printed Concrete and Analysis of Cluster Construction Needs," and "Robot Cluster Construction: Current Status, Challenges, and Initial Exploration of Practice."

In the afternoon session, Assistant Professor Bingxian Mu from the University of New Hampshire, Dr. Shuai Zhang from the University of Hong Kong, Researcher Yang Ding from the Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Professor Han Ding Wang from Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Bo Zhu from Sun Yat-sen University delivered presentations with the following titles: "Cooperative Control of Multi-Agent Systems: Theory and Application," "A Distributed Outmost Push Approach for Multi-robot Herding," "Large-scale Cluster Platform on Desktop and Exploration of Mobile Agent Perception Based on Flow Field," "Data-Driven Embodied Intelligence Evolution," and "Configuration Scaling Control for Small Rotary-wing UAV Cluster Flight: Theory, Algorithm, and Experiment."

This seminar has been an important academic exchange event for our university in the field of cluster robotics and cluster construction. It has expanded the academic horizons of our faculty and students and enhanced our university's academic exchanges with renowned domestic and international institutions. The College of Control and Information Engineering will continue to implement the "Information Discipline Rising Plan," absorb valuable suggestions from experts, further refine our disciplinary characteristics, promote interdisciplinary integration, and contribute to the advancement of our university's core disciplines in the context of the "Intelligence+" transformation.