Scientists at the University of Sheffield have created a computer model of how bees avoid hitting walls – which could be a breakthrough in the development of autonomous robots.
Researchers from the Department of Computer Science built their computer model to look at how bees use vision to detect the movement of the world around them and avoid crashes.
Bees control their flight using the speed of motion – or optic flow – of the visual world around them, but it is not known how they do this. The only neural circuits so far found in the insect brain can tell the direction of motion, not the speed.
This study suggests how motion-direction detecting circuits could be wired together to also detect motion-speed, which is crucial for controlling bees’ flight.
“Honeybees are excellent navigators and explorers, using vision extensively in these tasks, despite having a brain of only one million neurons,” said Dr Alex Cope, lead researcher on the paper.
“Understanding how bees avoid walls, and what information they can use to navigate, moves us closer to the development of efficient algorithms for navigation and routing – which would greatly enhance the performance of autonomous flying robotics”, he added.
Professor James Marshall, lead investigator on the project, added: “This is the reason why bees are confused by windows – since they are transparent they generate hardly any optic flow as bees approach them.”
Dr Cope and his fellow researchers on the project; Dr Chelsea Sabo, Dr Eleni Vasilaki, Professor Kevin Gurney, and Professor James Marshall, are now using this research to investigate how bees understand which direction they are pointing in and use this knowledge to solve tasks.
Learn more: Bee model could be breakthrough for robot development
The Latest on: Robot development
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Robot development” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Robot development
- Baltimore daily roundup: HBCU Power Moves; robot takeover up I-95; a founder’s $8.9M donationon May 9, 2024 at 10:14 pm
My latest Power Moves column highlights talent movements and institutional changes across the region, including new leadership appointments, collaborations and achievements in higher education and ...
- Mobile ALOHA: Stanford students develop a low-cost robot that cooks and cleanson May 9, 2024 at 9:33 pm
Stanford students, Zipeng Fu and Tony Zhou advised by Professor Chelsea Finn made a technological breakthrough this past month with the creation of ‘Mobile ALOHA, a low-cost AI robot with a whole-body ...
- Lifelike robot invasion: Inside China’s insane humanoid factoryon May 9, 2024 at 8:29 am
A short video clip circulating on social media has sparked amusement and concern as it unveils the inner workings of a Chinese humanoid robot factory. The video offers a glimpse of numerous humanoid ...
- Swarms of miniature robots clean up microplastics and microbes, simultaneouslyon May 8, 2024 at 8:14 am
When old food packaging, discarded children's toys and other mismanaged plastic waste break down into microplastics, they become even harder to clean up from oceans and waterways. These tiny bits of ...
- Generative AI is speeding up human-like robot development. What that means for jobson May 7, 2024 at 6:56 pm
ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence is speeding up research and bringing humanoid robots closer to reality in China, home to many of the world's factories.
- Swarms of miniature robots clean up microplastics and microbes, simultaneously (video)on May 7, 2024 at 5:00 pm
When old food packaging, discarded children’s toys and other mismanaged plastic waste break down into microplastics, they become even harder to clean up from oceans and waterways. These tiny bits of ...
- Tesla releases new Optimus humanoid robot video that creates controversyon May 6, 2024 at 1:42 pm
Tesla has released a new video of a prototype of Optimus, its humanoid robot, and it created some controversy as some disagree about how impressive it is.
- SwRI releases CAD-based toolkit for robotics developmenton May 6, 2024 at 12:42 pm
The SwRI Workbench for Offline Robotics Development (SWORD) embeds CAD into robotics motion planning, modeling and execution.
- Are these robots making humans obsolete for home and repair tasks?on May 6, 2024 at 3:00 am
Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson reveals how the Aloha Unleashed project showcases a dual-arm robot system that autonomously performs tasks, demonstrating remarkable precision in robotics.
- World’s first fully electric robot boasts 550 trillion ops, 4mph speedon May 4, 2024 at 7:06 am
Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center Company has developed the world's first humanoid robot that can sprint at a steady speed of 3.73 mph.
via Bing News