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Life for lab flies just got more interesting, thanks to an interactive virtual-reality system developed by Swiss and US researchers.
They have built a wind tunnel for flies with changing scenes or images projected onto its walls. A camera tracks the fly in 3D, making the images move in response to it flying around inside.
The VR system offers a new way to gain insight into how flies' visual environment affects how they move and behave. The researchers say that they hope to build VR setups for other animals too.
Engineers building small, flapping aircraft (with video) already try to borrow visual processing tricks used by flying insects. Improved knowledge of how insects use visual stimuli would help further.
They have built a wind tunnel for flies with changing scenes or images projected onto its walls. A camera tracks the fly in 3D, making the images move in response to it flying around inside.
The VR system offers a new way to gain insight into how flies' visual environment affects how they move and behave. The researchers say that they hope to build VR setups for other animals too.
Engineers building small, flapping aircraft (with video) already try to borrow visual processing tricks used by flying insects. Improved knowledge of how insects use visual stimuli would help further.
Virtual reality for flies puts humans in control
A VR wind tunnel with moving images on its walls can control the movements of an untethered fruit fly and could help develop flapping robots
www.newscientist.com
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