By tricking a fruit fly into thinking it was flying using an array of LEDs, researchers used the fly’s wing movements to steer a robot through an obstacle course. There’s video, so you can check out this cyborg fly for yourself.
So what’s the significance of having a fly-controlled robot? Apparently, the technique could be used to help track micro and nano robots, which are difficult to follow due to their high relative velocities. Although the Cyborg Fly Project is not the only bug “flight simulator“, it has a unique high-speed vision component that could translate into both future biology research and industrial applications like keeping tabs on a production line. [IEEE Spectrum via Boing Boing]
