  Despite progress developing experimentally-consistent models of insect
in-flight sensing and feedback for individual agents, a lack of systematic
understanding of the multi-agent and group performance of the resulting
bio-inspired sensing and feedback approaches remains a barrier to robotic swarm
implementations. This study introduces the small-target motion reactive (STMR)
swarming approach by designing a concise engineering model of the small target
motion detector (STMD) neurons found in insect lobula complexes. The STMD
neuron model identifies the bearing angle at which peak optic flow magnitude
occurs, and this angle is used to design an output feedback switched control
system. A theoretical stability analysis provides bi-agent stability and state
boundedness in group contexts. The approach is simulated and implemented on
ground vehicles for validation and behavioral studies. The results indicate
despite having the lowest connectivity of contemporary approaches (each agent
instantaneously regards only a single neighbor), collective group motion can be
achieved. STMR group level metric analysis also highlights continuously varying
polarization and decreasing heading variance.
