Birds to inspire auto-pilots

Harvard University scientists trained pigeons to fly through an artificial forest with a tiny camera attached to their heads. “Attaching the camera to the bird, as well as filming them from either side means we can reconstruct both what the bird sees and how it moves,” said Huai-Ti Lin, a lead researcher for this work, in a press release.

The methods pigeons use to navigate through difficult environments could be used as a model for auto-pilot technology. Pigeons, with an over 300-degree panoramic vision, are well suited to this task because this wrap-round vision allows them to assess obstacles on either side. They can also stabilise their vision and switch rapidly between views using what is called a ‘head saccade’, a small rapid movement of the head. This research is being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology annual conference in Glasgow this month. The researchers also showed birds have other skills that would be important for auto-piloted machines. For example they tend to choose the straightest routes.

When using a robot or an unmanned aircraft, it would be invaluable to simply provide it with the coordinates of the destination without having to give it detailed information of all the obstacles it might meet on the way. “If we could develop the technology to follow the same methods as birds, we could let the robot get on with it without giving it any more input,” says Lin.