Tiny, Steerable 'Robotic Backpack Camera' for Insects
Vision is vital for communication and navigation, but it is very challenging to do it at a very small scale. Now, researchers at the University of Washington have created a tiny wireless camera that can ride on top of an insect. Prior to this work, wireless vision had not been possible for small robots or insects. Typical small cameras, like those used in smartphones, use a lot of power to capture wide-angle, high-resolution photos, which doesn’t work at the insect scale. The new system's black-and-white camera streams video to a smartphone at 1 to 5 frames per second and sits on a mechanical arm that can pivot 60 degrees. This allows a viewer to capture a high-resolution, panoramic shot or track a moving object, while expending minimal energy. The system weighs about 250 milligrams, or about one-tenth the weight of a playing card. To demonstrate the system's versatility, the team mounted it on top of live beetles and insect-sized robots.
Transcript
00:00:03 Vision is an important sensory input for many insects, but their most sensitive photoreceptors can consume significant amounts of energy. This has led many insects to develop high visual acuity in only small retinal regions and evolve instead to move their visual systems through head motion. In this work, we take inspiration from nature to design an insect-scale wirelessly steerable vision system, seen here on the back of a beetle. Here, we see a darkling beetle held facing a metric ruler.
00:00:41 The insect's motion triggers the camera to turn and stream images to a smartphone. The entire system is small and light enough to be carried by a live beetle, shown here walking freely across a table. The insect video shows a live, first-person view from the perspective of the insect. The camera can stream monochrome video to a smartphone. The phone receives and displays the video, and can also be used to adjust the camera's settings.
00:01:11 Here, we see a person walking across the frame recorded by the camera in real-time. The phone can also send commands to a piezo actuator on the back of the insect, which can pan the camera across 60 degrees. The ability to move the camera allows it to capture panoramas. The image at the top left shows a reference image of the captured scene. It can also operate at low light levels. When the flashlight turns off, the camera
00:01:42 can adjust its gain to see the image. This technology can be used to study insects in the field as they walk freely. The camera system can also be integrated onto insect-scale robots. Here, we see a small robot navigating around obstacles. The camera streams video to a smartphone, which can also send commands to steer the robot. The piezo actuator allows the robot to focus on moving objects for much less energy
00:02:14 than turning the entire robot. The robot here turns its head to keep another moving robot in its field of view.