How do honeybees control their flight speed to avoid obstacles?
Monday, May 16, 2011 - 10:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Unlike humans, bees have a dorsal visual field that enables them to avoid obstacles above their heads. Until now, it was not known whether this helped them to control their flight speed. Recent research by French biorobotics specialists at the Institut des sciences du movement confirms that it does. Bees have been shown to adjust their speed according to obstacle proximity, whether such obstacles are in the horizontal or vertical plane. They achieve this through perceived optic flow, especially from overhead. These findings were recently demonstrated experimentally using previously modeled honeybee flight navigation in three dimensions. They were published on 12 May, 2011 in the journal PLoS One.
