Portelli G, Serres J, Ruffier F, Franceschini N
The Institute of Movement Sciences, UMR CNRS - Aix-Marseille university II., France.
J Physiol Paris. 2010 Jan-Mar;104(1-2):27-39. doi: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2009.11.011. Epub 2009 Nov 10.
In view of the behavioral findings published on bees during the last two decades, it was proposed to decipher the principles underlying bees' autopilot system, focusing in particular on these insects' use of the optic flow (OF). Based on computer-simulated experiments, we developed a vision-based autopilot that enables a "simulated bee" to travel along a tunnel, controlling both its speed and its clearance from the right wall, left wall, ground, and roof. The flying agent thus equipped enjoys three translational degrees of freedom on the surge (x), sway (y), and heave (z) axes, which are uncoupled. This visuo-motor control system, which is called ALIS (AutopiLot using an Insect based vision System), is a dual OF regulator consisting of two interdependent feedback loops, each of which has its own OF set-point. The experiments presented here showed that the simulated bee was able to navigate safely along a straight or tapered tunnel and to react appropriately to any untoward OF perturbations, such as those resulting from the occasional lack of texture on one wall or the tapering of the tunnel. The minimalistic visual system used here (involving only eight pixels) suffices to jointly control both the clearance from the four walls and the forward speed, without having to measure any speeds or distances. The OF sensors and the simple visuo-motor control system we have developed account well for the results of ethological studies performed on honeybees flying freely along straight and tapered corridors.
鉴于过去二十年来发表的关于蜜蜂的行为学研究结果，有人提议解读蜜蜂自动驾驶系统背后的原理，尤其关注这些昆虫对光流（OF）的利用。基于计算机模拟实验，我们开发了一种基于视觉的自动驾驶仪，使“模拟蜜蜂”能够沿着隧道飞行，同时控制其速度以及与右壁、左壁、地面和顶部的间距。配备了该系统的飞行体在纵荡（x）、横荡（y）和垂荡（z）轴上具有三个相互独立的平移自由度。这个视觉 - 运动控制系统被称为ALIS（使用基于昆虫视觉系统的自动驾驶仪），是一个双光流调节器，由两个相互依赖的反馈回路组成，每个回路都有自己的光流设定点。此处展示的实验表明，模拟蜜蜂能够沿着笔直或渐缩的隧道安全导航，并能对任何不利的光流扰动做出适当反应，比如偶尔一侧墙壁缺乏纹理或隧道渐缩所导致的扰动。这里使用的极简视觉系统（仅涉及八个像素）足以同时控制与四面墙壁的间距和前进速度，而无需测量任何速度或距离。我们开发的光流传感器和简单的视觉 - 运动控制系统很好地解释了对沿笔直和渐缩通道自由飞行的蜜蜂进行的行为学研究结果。
