A bee in the corridor: centering and wall-following |
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Authors: | Julien R Serres Guillaume P Masson Franck Ruffier Nicolas Franceschini |
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Institution: | (1) Biorobotics Lab., Institute of Movement Science, CNRS and University of the Mediterranean, 163, ave. Luminy, 13288 Marseille cedex 09, France |
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Abstract: | In an attempt to better understand the mechanism underlying lateral collision avoidance in flying insects, we trained honeybees
(Apis mellifera) to fly through a large (95-cm wide) flight tunnel. We found that, depending on the entrance and feeder positions, honeybees
would either center along the corridor midline or fly along one wall. Bees kept following one wall even when a major (150-cm
long) part of the opposite wall was removed. These findings cannot be accounted for by the “optic flow balance” hypothesis
that has been put forward to explain the typical bees’ “centering response” observed in narrower corridors. Both centering
and wall-following behaviors are well accounted for, however, by a control scheme called the lateral optic flow regulator, i.e., a feedback system that strives to maintain the unilateral optic flow constant. The power of this control scheme is
that it would allow the bee to guide itself visually in a corridor without having to measure its speed or distance from the
walls. |
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Keywords: | Insect flight Honeybee Apis mellifera Vision Optic flow Collision avoidance Image motion |
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