How Dragonflies Could Help Scientists Build Better Robots
Dragonfly David O'Carroll, University of Adelaide. Dragonflies process light and dark a little differently than the rest of us. New research into the visual system of dragonflies could one day improve target detection and tracking in robotics, according to a pair of Australian researchers. Steven Wiederman and David O'Carroll from the Center for Neuroscience Research at the University of Adelaide in Australia have been studying insect vision in the hopes of improving artificial vision for robotics and to develop neural prosthetics. They've found that dragonflies have an unusual visual circuit that allows them to see dark moving objects. Visual processing in most animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, consists of two channels that process light and dark separately, called ON and OFF channels. "Most animals will use a combination of ON switches with other ON switches in the brain, or OFF and OFF, depending on the circumstances," according to Wiederman, lead...