This Robot Camera Can Capture the Erratic Flight of Insects
A new paper in Science Robotics describes a new way to track the flight of insects—something scientists have had trouble following in the past.
Using a robot which has been attached to cables, researchers have begun studying how moths fly. The team hopes to one day use their tech to trace the flight paths of other insects like fruit flies and mosquitoes.
Up until now, we haven’t really been able to accurately track the flight path of certain insects because they're too small and too quick. But researchers have developed a cable-driven parallel robot, which they’ve dubbed “lab-on-cables,” for the purpose of “tracking and interacting with a free-flying insect.”
Lab-on-cables works by mounting cameras on cables which allow the camera to follow the movement of an insect. To test the accuracy of this device, the researchers had the camera track free-flying moths (Agrotis ipsilon) and used “prerecorded trajectories” to demonstrate that the the flight and movement of other insects—such as fruit flies and mosquitoes—could be tracked, too.
In order to analyze just how insects have managed to develop “flight maneuvers that are unmatched with current technology,” the researchers built lab-on-cables using six degrees of freedom (DOF)—the number of values which are free to vary—and attached “motorized winches” to the cables in order to allow for robust movement to track insect flight.
Then, the team paired lab-on-cables with infrared illumination so that a 3D computer rendering of the robot’s movement would be easily visible. The researchers compare lab-on-cables to a missile guidance system, saying:
One major difference, however, is that a missile aiming at target interception flies at its maximum speed, whereas the lab-on-cables tracking an insect adjusts its speed continuously.
The researchers also studied the lift off and landing of A. ipsilon in addition to their wingbeats and other kinematics. They found that the frequency of the moth’s wingbeats, body angles, and even the angles of their wing strokes changed depending on how fast the critters were flying.
“As flight speed increased from zero to three meters per second, the wing beat frequency increased ... while the insect body tended to be more horizontal,” wrote the paper authors, who hope that their work can help us better understand how these insects use olfactory, visual, and other stimuli to orient themselves during take off, flight, and landing.
Looks like this "lab-on-cables" is already paying off.
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