flight control
- Asymmetry costs: effects of wing damage on hovering flight performance in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta
Summary: Asymmetric wing damage in hawkmoths is approximately twice as costly as symmetric damage.
- Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic flow and headwind
Summary: Measurement and characterisation of the dynamic flight response of fruit flies reveal that their flight controller weighs visual and wind stimuli approximately equally, to produce flight thrust and adjust the pitch of the abdomen.
- Optic flow stabilizes flight in ruby-throated hummingbirds
Summary: Ruby-throated hummingbirds appear to use optic flow to stabilize flight, similar to insects, by rotating with and following projected moving patterns in a flight arena.
- Pitch perfect: how fruit flies control their body pitch angle
Summary: High-speed videography of free-flying Drosophila reveals their active control mechanism for counter-pitching perturbations, which is rapid, robust and consistent with linear control theory.
- A visual horizon affects steering responses during flight in fruit flies
Summary: During flight, fruit flies track visual features more strongly if they dip below a visual horizon, consistent with using the horizon to judge distance.
- Haltere mechanosensory influence on tethered flight behavior in Drosophila
Summary: Fly mechanosensory organs influence wing-steering responses to visual stimuli in a context-dependent way.
- Bumblebees measure optic flow for position and speed control flexibly within the frontal visual field
Summary: Bumblebees control their flight using motion cues generated by the nearest obstacles in the frontal visual field, a strategy that enables them to fly safely in cluttered environments.
- Body saccades of Drosophila consist of stereotyped banked turns
Summary: Using high-speed 3D videography and a dynamically scaled robotic fly, we studied the biomechanics and aerodynamics of saccadic turns in flying flies. We show that these maneuvers are remarkably stereotypic.