Biorobotics Department, Institute of Movement Sciences, CNRS-University of Aix-Marseille II, Marseille, France.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2010 Apr;196(4):307-13. doi: 10.1007/s00359-010-0510-z. Epub 2010 Mar 10.
To further elucidate the mechanisms underlying insects' height and speed control, we trained outdoor honeybees to fly along a high-roofed tunnel, part of which was equipped with a moving floor. Honeybees followed the stationary part of the floor at a given height. On encountering the moving part of the floor, which moved in the same direction as their flight, honeybees descended and flew at a lower height, thus gradually restoring their ventral optic flow (OF) to a similar value to that they had percieved when flying over the stationary part of the floor. This was therefore achieved not by increasing their airspeed, but by lowering their height of flight. These results can be accounted for by a control system called an optic flow regulator, as proposed in previous studies. This visuo-motor control scheme explains how honeybees can navigate safely along tunnels on the sole basis of OF measurements, without any need to measure either their speed or the clearance from the surrounding walls.
为了进一步阐明昆虫高度和速度控制的机制，我们训练户外蜜蜂沿着一个高屋顶的隧道飞行，隧道的一部分装有一个活动地板。蜜蜂以一定的高度沿着地板的固定部分飞行。当遇到与飞行方向相同的活动地板部分时，蜜蜂下降并以较低的高度飞行，从而逐渐将它们的腹侧光流（OF）恢复到与它们在飞过地板固定部分时相同的数值。这不是通过增加它们的空速来实现的，而是通过降低飞行高度来实现的。这些结果可以用先前研究中提出的称为光流调节器的控制系统来解释。这种视觉-运动控制方案解释了蜜蜂如何仅基于 OF 测量安全地沿着隧道导航，而无需测量它们的速度或与周围墙壁的间隙。
