New artificial compound eye could improve 3D object tracking

Summary: A new, bio-inspired compound eye is helping researchers to understand how insects sense an object and its trajectory with such speed.

Source: The Optical Society

If you’ve ever tried to swat a fly, you know that insects react to movement extremely quickly. A newly created biologically inspired compound eye is helping scientists understand how insects use their compound eyes to sense an object and its trajectory with such speed. The compound eye could also be used with a camera to create 3D location systems for robots, self-driving cars and unmanned aerial vehicles.

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optics Letters, researchers from Tianjin University in China report their new bio-inspired compound eye, which not only looks like that of an insect but also works like its natural counterpart. Compound eyes consist of hundreds to thousands of repeating units known as ommatidia that each act as a separate visual receptor.

“Imitating the vision system of insects has led us to believe that they might detect the trajectory of an object based on the light intensity coming from that object rather than using precise images like human vision,” said Le Song, a member of the research team. “This motion-detection method requires less information, allowing the insect to quickly react to a threat.”

Imitating an insect eye

The researchers used a method known as single point diamond turning to create 169 microlenses on the surface of the compound eye. Each microlens had a radius of about 1 mm, creating a component measuring about 20 mm that could detect objects from a 90-degree field of view. The fields of view of adjacent microlenses overlapped in the same way that ommatidia do for most insects.

One of the challenges in making an artificial compound eye is that image detectors are flat while the surface of the compound eye is curved. Placing a light guide between the curved lens and an image detector allowed the researchers to overcome this challenge while also enabling the component to receive light from different angles uniformly.

“This uniform light receiving ability of our bio-inspired compound eye is more similar to biological compound eyes and better imitates the biological mechanism than previous attempts at replicating a compound eye,” explained Song.

To use the artificial compound eye for measuring 3D trajectory, the researchers added grids to each eyelet that help pinpoint location. They then placed LED light sources at known distances and directions from the compound eye and used an algorithm to calculate the 3D location of the LEDs based on the location and intensity of the light.

The researchers found that the compound eye system was able to rapidly provide the 3D location of an object. However, the location accuracy was reduced when the light sources were farther away, which could explain why most insects are nearsighted.

How insects see the world

“This design allowed us to prove that the compound eye could identify an object’s location based on its brightness instead of a complex image process,” said Song. “This highly sensitive mechanism suits the brain processing ability of insects very well and helps them avoid predators.”

This shows the eye on a robotic dragonfly
Researchers have created a bio-inspired compound eye that is helping scientists understand how insects sense an object and its trajectory with such speed. The compound eye could also be useful for 3D location systems for robots, self-driving cars and unmanned aerial vehicles. The image is credited to Le Song, Tianjin University.

According to the researchers, the ability of the new bio-inspired compound eye to detect an object’s 3D location could be useful for small robots requiring fast detection from a very lightweight system. It also offers a new way for biologists to study the visual systems of insects.

The researchers are planning to imbed the localization algorithm into platforms such as integrated circuits to allow the system to be incorporated into other devices. They are also developing ways to mass produce the compound eye lenses to reduce the unit cost.

About this neuroscience research article

Source:
The Optical Society
Media Contacts:
James Merrick – The Optical Society
Image Source:
The image is credited to Le Song, Tianjin University.

Original Research: Closed access
“Detection of three-dimensional trajectory of object based on curved bionic compound eye”. Y. Zheng, L. Song, J. Huang, H. Zhang, F. Fang.
Optic Letters. doi:10.1364/OL.44.004143

Abstract

Detection of three-dimensional trajectory of object based on curved bionic compound eye

Biological compound-eye systems have unique advantages in three-dimensional (3D) positioning based on light energy distribution. A curved compound eye was designed and manufactured to imitate a biological compound eye. To overcome the nonuniform off-axis response and enlarge the aperture of the eyelet, a novel dome light cone was designed. The dome light cone was designed as a conical structure, which consisted of a lot of fiber wires with a diameter of 6 μm. Additionally, based on the proposed biological compound-eye systems, an algorithm was proposed to obtain the 3D position of the object by analyzing the light location and intensity distribution. The effect of the illumination intensity, the position of the target’s center, and the non-repeatability were evaluated. The relative standard uncertainty in the 3D position was estimated to be 8.6%. Low uncertainty verified the validity of the 3D localization algorithm.

Feel free to share this Neurotech News.
Join our Newsletter
I agree to have my personal information transferred to AWeber for Neuroscience Newsletter ( more information )
Sign up to receive our recent neuroscience headlines and summaries sent to your email once a day, totally free.
We hate spam and only use your email to contact you about newsletters. You can cancel your subscription any time.