Human Engineers have a lot to Learn from ‘Simple’ Animals

Much of our current robotics technology trails far behind what nature can achieve, but exciting research being done in the Oxford department of Zoology could aid the design of ever more efficient systems.

As part of this work Tonya Muller, a DPhil student in the zoology department, is currently analysing the flight patterns of hawk moths in response to changing visual stimuli. The moth is tethered to a force analyser which can detect tiny adjustments to its flight behaviour as it sees patterns of oscillating light at various amplitudes or frequencies. These changing light patterns simulate the changes the moth would see if it was flying through gusts of wind in real life.

The information she gathers could help us understand how creatures with such simple eyes and small brains can process the visual cues quickly enough to react to disturbances in their surroundings. Along with visual cues, insects also rely on information such as air-flow over their bodies in order to assess changes in their environment. The hawk moth can combine all the information from these various sources before it even reaches the brain. In contrast, modern robotics must deliver all the information to the controller before a response can be formulated, which makes for a very inefficient system which does not recover well from unexpected disturbances. It is hoped that experiments such as Muller’s could shed light on this ‘parallel processing system’ seen in insects and help engineers design more efficient control systems for robots.

Future experiments in this field aim to measure the activity of the moth’s neurons in response to visual stimuli, potentially in free-flying moths. This would not only place Muller’s research at the cutting edge of science but would also bring huge insights into how what the moth sees informs its flight behaviour.