Honeybee Navigation: Low-level and Cognitive Mechanisms. Anyone watching a honeybee find its way back home effortlessly after flying several kilometres in search of nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. The aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms by which bees navigate repeatedly to an attractive food source, and recruit their nestmates to visit it. The findings should ....Honeybee Navigation: Low-level and Cognitive Mechanisms. Anyone watching a honeybee find its way back home effortlessly after flying several kilometres in search of nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. The aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms by which bees navigate repeatedly to an attractive food source, and recruit their nestmates to visit it. The findings should illuminate important principles of animal navigation, as well as suggest novel strategies for robot navigation.Read moreRead less
How do bees orchestrate smooth landings? The results should pave the way for the development of novel, biologically inspired strategies for the control of landing in unmanned aerial vehicles. Endowing aircraft with the capability of autonomous flight and landing has been a major challenge in engineering technology. There is now considerable interest, nationally and world wide, in the development of small, intelligent, autonomous airborne vehicles for application in a number of areas of defense, ....How do bees orchestrate smooth landings? The results should pave the way for the development of novel, biologically inspired strategies for the control of landing in unmanned aerial vehicles. Endowing aircraft with the capability of autonomous flight and landing has been a major challenge in engineering technology. There is now considerable interest, nationally and world wide, in the development of small, intelligent, autonomous airborne vehicles for application in a number of areas of defense, surveillance and space exploration. The proposed research will help Australia maintain a leading edge in uncovering important biological principles of flight control that can be translated into useful technological applications.Read moreRead less
Honeybee Vision and navigation, and applications to robotics. Anyone observing a honeybee find its way home effortlessly after collecting nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. One aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underling honeybee navigation. Another aim is to apply some of these findings to the development of novel, biologically inspired naviagtion systems for ....Honeybee Vision and navigation, and applications to robotics. Anyone observing a honeybee find its way home effortlessly after collecting nectar would know that these insects are excellent navigators, despite their diminutive brains and relatively simple nervous systems. One aim of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underling honeybee navigation. Another aim is to apply some of these findings to the development of novel, biologically inspired naviagtion systems for aircraft. The findings should illuminate important principles of animal navigation. They should also advance Australia's technology in the area of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which will have important applications in national defence and security.Read moreRead less