Bee line for brain research
The precision brain of an angry bee could revolutionise unmanned aircraft technology around the world according to a researcher at the new Queensland Brain Institute.
Smart State Fellow Professor Mandyam Srinivasan has set out to improve robot technologies by better understanding bee behaviour, and his findings present a hive of possibilities, from aerial coastal surveillance to mineral exploration.
“Worker bees are generally docile, until a guard bee protecting the hive emits an alarm hormone to signal the hive is endangered,” Professor Srinivasan said.
“Normal bees are fairly peaceful when they go out hunting for food, but the moment they get a whiff of alarm pheromone from a guard bee, the entire colony mobilises.
“The flight dynamics change and they become like little fighter aircraft or missiles.”
Bees’ small but smart brains and nervous systems have evolved a ‘visuomotor’ system that enables them to track moving objects with pinpoint accuracy.
Professor Srinivasan’s research, previously funded by NASA and now attracting the interest of the US Air Force, could reduce the risk to soldiers involved in peace-keeping and combat situations by sending portable UAVs on reconnaissance missions.
His recent research surmises that bees determine distance by gauging the extent to which the image of the environment moves in the eye as they fly towards their goal.
Their visual odometer operates when the bee flies along a path that includes a vertical component. By training bees to fly to a feeder along tunnels of various three-dimensional configurations, Professor Srinivasan found the odometric signal depended only upon the total distance travelled, independent of its three-dimensional configuration.
Flying bees can simply integrate the image motion that is experienced on the way to the goal, irrespective of the direction in which the image moves across the eyes.
These findings raise important questions about how honeybee recruits navigate reliably to find the food sources advertised by scouts.
As well as their minute brains, Professor Srinivasan is looking into the eyes of bees. His laboratory has recently found that, like many humans, bees are right-eyed – they see and learn things better with that eye.
The Queensland Government has contributed $45 million towards the new Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at The University of Queensland, which officially opened last month.
QBI conducts world-class research in major fields of neuroscience, including neural cell degeneration, migration and plasticity, computational neuroscience, stem cells, cortical development, behavioural and visual neuro-science, ageing and brain disorders.
Under the leadership of Professor Perry Bartlett, QBI is working with international high-tech companies such as instrument-maker Zeiss, and world science leaders including The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan.
When QBI reaches full capacity, it will provide employment for more than 250 staff and be one of the two largest neuroscience institutes in the Asia–Pacific region.
The Smart State Fellowship, part of the Innovation Skills Fund, is worth $250,000 a year for five years, with the University of Queensland providing matching funding.
Story: Nerida Liedloff
Photos: Ron Hoenhaus, Scott Murray (bees)
Last reviewed 17 December 2007
