A new flocking model through body attitude coordination

We present a new model for multi-agent dynamics where each agent is described by its position and body attitude: agents travel at a constant speed in a given direction and their body can rotate around it adopting different configurations. In this manner, the body attitude is described by three orthonormal axes giving an element in SO(3) (rotation matrix). Agents try to coordinate their body attitudes with the ones of their neighbours. In the present paper, we give the Individual Based Model (particle model) for this dynamics and derive its corresponding kinetic and macroscopic equations. The work presented here is inspired by the Vicsek model and its study in [24]. This is a new model where collective motion is reached through body attitude coordination.