An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance

Nabila Siregar; Phong Le; Raquel G. Alhama

An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance

Nabila Siregar
, Phong Le
, Raquel G. Alhama

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

We present a computational framework to investigate whether artificial agents in a foraging environment develop a communication protocol with features of the honeybee waggle dance. Analyzing communicative success, compositionality, and emergent semantics, we find that (i) agents tend to use directional signals for communication, especially when they have the freedom to explore the environment, (ii) in the absence of direct distance representations, agents develop a system based on shortest-path routes when their mental map representations overlap, and (iii) constraining their communication channel to simulate kinematic properties of honeybees provides a slight positive benefit. Overall, we find that, under certain constraints, agents develop a (relatively) compositional communication system reminiscent of the waggle dance.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The evolution of language
Subtitle of host publication	proceedings of the 16th international conference on the evolution of language (EVOLANG XVI)
Editors	Stefan Hartmann, Marta Sibierska, Marlen Fröhlich, Yannick Jadoul, Mathilde Josserand, Theresa Matzinger, Katie Mudd, Jonas Nölle, Michael Pleyer, Sławomir Wacewicz, Przemysław Żywiczyński
Place of Publication	Nijmegen
Publisher	The Evolution of Language Conferences
Pages	435-442
Number of pages	8
Publication status	Published - 21 Apr 2026
Event	International Conference on the Evolution of Language - Plovdiv, Bulgaria Duration: 7 Apr 2026 → 10 Apr 2026 Conference number: 16 https://sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/evolang2026/home

Publication series

Name	International conference on the evolution of language
Publisher	The Evolution of Language Conferences, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
ISSN (Electronic)	2666-917X

Conference

Conference	International Conference on the Evolution of Language
Abbreviated title	EVOLANG
Country/Territory	Bulgaria
City	Plovdiv
Period	7/04/26 → 10/04/26
Internet address	https://sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/evolang2026/home

Keywords

Language emergence

Access to Document

Nabila-et-al-2026-An-emergent-communication-framework-EVOLANG16-435-CCBYNCND
Copyright © the Authors 2026. This paper is distributed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Final published version, 821 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Handle.net

Persistent link to portal record

Cite this

Siregar, N., Le, P., & G. Alhama, R. (2026). An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance. In S. Hartmann, M. Sibierska, M. Fröhlich, Y. Jadoul, M. Josserand, T. Matzinger, K. Mudd, J. Nölle, M. Pleyer, S. Wacewicz, & P. Żywiczyński (Eds.), The evolution of language: proceedings of the 16th international conference on the evolution of language (EVOLANG XVI) (pp. 435-442). (International conference on the evolution of language). The Evolution of Language Conferences.

Siregar, Nabila ; Le, Phong ; G. Alhama, Raquel. / An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance. The evolution of language: proceedings of the 16th international conference on the evolution of language (EVOLANG XVI). editor / Stefan Hartmann ; Marta Sibierska ; Marlen Fröhlich ; Yannick Jadoul ; Mathilde Josserand ; Theresa Matzinger ; Katie Mudd ; Jonas Nölle ; Michael Pleyer ; Sławomir Wacewicz ; Przemysław Żywiczyński. Nijmegen : The Evolution of Language Conferences, 2026. pp. 435-442 (International conference on the evolution of language).

@inproceedings{28d6d07b529e467c8edc47239cdb0bf6,

title = "An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance",

abstract = "We present a computational framework to investigate whether artificial agents in a foraging environment develop a communication protocol with features of the honeybee waggle dance. Analyzing communicative success, compositionality, and emergent semantics, we find that (i) agents tend to use directional signals for communication, especially when they have the freedom to explore the environment, (ii) in the absence of direct distance representations, agents develop a system based on shortest-path routes when their mental map representations overlap, and (iii) constraining their communication channel to simulate kinematic properties of honeybees provides a slight positive benefit. Overall, we find that, under certain constraints, agents develop a (relatively) compositional communication system reminiscent of the waggle dance.",

keywords = "Language emergence",

author = "Nabila Siregar and Phong Le and \{G. Alhama\}, Raquel",

year = "2026",

month = apr,

day = "21",

language = "English",

series = "International conference on the evolution of language",

publisher = "The Evolution of Language Conferences",

pages = "435--442",

editor = "Stefan Hartmann and Marta Sibierska and Marlen Fr{\"o}hlich and Yannick Jadoul and Mathilde Josserand and Theresa Matzinger and Katie Mudd and Jonas N{\"o}lle and Michael Pleyer and S{\l}awomir Wacewicz and Przemys{\l}aw {\.Z}ywiczy{\'n}ski",

booktitle = "The evolution of language",

note = "International Conference on the Evolution of Language, EVOLANG ; Conference date: 07-04-2026 Through 10-04-2026",

url = "https://sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/evolang2026/home",

}

Siregar, N, Le, P & G. Alhama, R 2026, An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance. in S Hartmann, M Sibierska, M Fröhlich, Y Jadoul, M Josserand, T Matzinger, K Mudd, J Nölle, M Pleyer, S Wacewicz & P Żywiczyński (eds), The evolution of language: proceedings of the 16th international conference on the evolution of language (EVOLANG XVI). International conference on the evolution of language, The Evolution of Language Conferences, Nijmegen, pp. 435-442, International Conference on the Evolution of Language, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 7/04/26.

An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance. / Siregar, Nabila; Le, Phong; G. Alhama, Raquel.
The evolution of language: proceedings of the 16th international conference on the evolution of language (EVOLANG XVI). ed. / Stefan Hartmann; Marta Sibierska; Marlen Fröhlich; Yannick Jadoul; Mathilde Josserand; Theresa Matzinger; Katie Mudd; Jonas Nölle; Michael Pleyer; Sławomir Wacewicz; Przemysław Żywiczyński. Nijmegen: The Evolution of Language Conferences, 2026. p. 435-442 (International conference on the evolution of language).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance

AU - Siregar, Nabila

AU - Le, Phong

AU - G. Alhama, Raquel

N1 - Conference code: 16

PY - 2026/4/21

Y1 - 2026/4/21

N2 - We present a computational framework to investigate whether artificial agents in a foraging environment develop a communication protocol with features of the honeybee waggle dance. Analyzing communicative success, compositionality, and emergent semantics, we find that (i) agents tend to use directional signals for communication, especially when they have the freedom to explore the environment, (ii) in the absence of direct distance representations, agents develop a system based on shortest-path routes when their mental map representations overlap, and (iii) constraining their communication channel to simulate kinematic properties of honeybees provides a slight positive benefit. Overall, we find that, under certain constraints, agents develop a (relatively) compositional communication system reminiscent of the waggle dance.

AB - We present a computational framework to investigate whether artificial agents in a foraging environment develop a communication protocol with features of the honeybee waggle dance. Analyzing communicative success, compositionality, and emergent semantics, we find that (i) agents tend to use directional signals for communication, especially when they have the freedom to explore the environment, (ii) in the absence of direct distance representations, agents develop a system based on shortest-path routes when their mental map representations overlap, and (iii) constraining their communication channel to simulate kinematic properties of honeybees provides a slight positive benefit. Overall, we find that, under certain constraints, agents develop a (relatively) compositional communication system reminiscent of the waggle dance.

KW - Language emergence

UR - https://evolang.org/2026/proceedings/evolang16_proceedings.pdf

M3 - Conference contribution

T3 - International conference on the evolution of language

SP - 435

EP - 442

BT - The evolution of language

A2 - Hartmann, Stefan

A2 - Sibierska, Marta

A2 - Fröhlich, Marlen

A2 - Jadoul, Yannick

A2 - Josserand, Mathilde

A2 - Matzinger, Theresa

A2 - Mudd, Katie

A2 - Nölle, Jonas

A2 - Pleyer, Michael

A2 - Wacewicz, Sławomir

A2 - Żywiczyński, Przemysław

PB - The Evolution of Language Conferences

CY - Nijmegen

T2 - International Conference on the Evolution of Language

Y2 - 7 April 2026 through 10 April 2026

ER -

Siregar N, Le P, G. Alhama R. An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance. In Hartmann S, Sibierska M, Fröhlich M, Jadoul Y, Josserand M, Matzinger T, Mudd K, Nölle J, Pleyer M, Wacewicz S, Żywiczyński P, editors, The evolution of language: proceedings of the 16th international conference on the evolution of language (EVOLANG XVI). Nijmegen: The Evolution of Language Conferences. 2026. p. 435-442. (International conference on the evolution of language).

An emergent communication framework for honeybee waggle dance

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this