Bees have long been renowned in the scientific world as one of the most efficient flying machines on Earth.
Now, in what may seem like science-fiction, University of Queensland researchers have studied their flight patterns in virtual reality in a bid to develop insect-sized robots.
”We are thinking this can be applied to robotics for very small flying robots,” PhD student Gavin Taylor said. ”If we had small flying robots, potentially they could act as pollinators, because bees are in global decline. But they could also be used for other things, such as in search-and-rescue flights.”
As part of the world-first Queensland Brain Institute study, Mr Taylor and other researchers tethered the bees in front of computer monitors and simulated flight conditions to study how they adapt naturally to a range of differing conditions.
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