Micro Air Vehicles Modeled After a Bee's Body Structure

Biomimicry has become the popular method to use forIn their set-up, a dome-shaped mirror, with a lens at its
creating prototypes and designs for robotics and othercentre, was placed 20 millimeters in front of the
technological machinery. Biomimicry is the act ofcamera's charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor
including functions and structures of nature's creationschip, with its convex surface facing towards the
in technology.camera. The lens focuses light from in front of the
In the past, scientists noticed the body structure of acamera onto the CCD to create an image with a
bee was perfect for high-speed navigation and110-degree field of view. At the same time, the convex
maneuvering making for a great model for miniatureface of the mirror captures a reflection of the world
robotic air crafts. Now, the focus has been onbehind the camera and focuses this light onto the
perfecting vision capabilities in mobile robots.CCD, widening the field of view to 280 degrees.
Extensive research has produced a replication of aBees use color vision and polarization to help with their
bee eye that is capable of rapid motion detection. Thisflight orientation. Scientists are in the works of including
invention is ideal to use for robotic mobile machineryUV to assist with the robot's orientation and
since it is able to quickly react to upcoming objects atfunctionality. Another future inclusion is incorporating
high speeds. The artificial bee eye is capable of amodels of the subsequent neural processing stages.
280-degree field of view providing the vehicles withThese advances will allow more accuracy and
maximized wide-angle view. A single camera usingfunctionality in the micro air vehicles without adding
only lenses and mirrors will provide 25 frames permore weight.
second in a fisheye view.