How mimetic should a robotic fish be to socially integrate into zebrafish groups?

Biomimetic robots are promising tools in animal behavioural studies. If they are socially integrated in a groupof animals, they can produce calibrated social stimuli to test the animal responses. However, the design of suchsocial robots is challenging as it involves both a luring capability including appropriate robot behaviours, and theacceptation of the robots by the animals as social companions. Here, we investigate the integration of a biomimeticrobotic lure driven by biomimetic behavioural models into a group of zebrafish (Danio rerio). The robot behaviours arebased on a stochastic model linking zebrafish visual perception to individual behaviour and calibrated experimentallyto correspond to the behaviour of zebrafish. We show that our robot can be integrated into a group of zebrafish,mimic their behaviour and exhibit similar collective dynamics compared to fish-only groups. This study shows that anautonomous biomimetic lure was enhanced by a biomimetic behavioural model so that it can socially integrate intogroups of fish.This study is a pioneering work where a biomimetic lure was enhanced by a biomimetic behavioural model so that it can integrate a group of fish.