WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Bugs Taking Over Robot Guidance

Getting visual processing power into a tiny package is a tough task, but nature has already solved the problem. Robotics researchers take cues from insects. By Lakshmi Sandhana.
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One of the aircraft used in Centeye's August 2003 trials. All sensing, controlling and processing is performed on the aircraft.Courtesy of Centeye

See related story: Bugs Taking Over Robot Guidance

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These two small boards together comprise a simple 8-gram obstacle-avoidance sensor, with all sensing, processing and controlling included.

Courtesy of Centeye
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One of Centeye's earlier obstacle-avoidance aircraft designs. Using standard hobbyist components to build the models, Centeye has constructed toy-like aircraft with complete vision systems that consume a small fraction of a watt of power, with each sensor weighing less than two-tenths of an ounce and the complete aircraft only around 3.5 ounces.

Courtesy of Centeye
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A close-up of the sensors and autopilot board on a model plane used to test Centeye's obstacle-avoidance system.

Courtesy of Centeye
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Centeye's Ladybug sensor can be used to acquire and process images simultaneously, fundamentally mimicking an intelligent retina by partially "digesting" the image before sending the data to a backend processor.

Courtesy of Centeye