Research the bee brain to develop self-flying robots

The purpose of the researchers was to create robots that could act themselves as honey bees.

University researchers are studying the brains of honey bees to build robots capable of flying independently without instructions.

By creating systems in bees' brains that control visual acuity, scientists are hoping to build a flying robot that can do more than just follow previous programming guidelines. Such a robot would be able to sense itself, acting like a bee.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield, University of Sussex in the UK are collaborating to take on what they call one of the great challenges of today's science: to build robots with artificial intelligence that are intelligent enough to carry. Complex tasks such as animals can do.

If that's possible, the flying robot will be able to use its "smell" to detect gas or other odors, then return home and report the source of the odor.

"The development of the artificial brain is one of the greatest challenges of artificial intelligence," said James Marshall, head of research at the University of Sheffield. "So far, researchers have studied the brains of mice, monkeys, and humans, but real simple organisms such as insect societies have surprisingly advanced cognitive abilities."

Universities are using NVIDIA GPU accelerators to make the necessary calculations, simulating the brain using standard desktops, rather than using more expensive supercomputers.

The scientists hope their bee-brain findings could be used to build a flying robot that could be used in search and rescue missions, gathering information that rescue teams have. Can be used to make decisions about how to proceed.

According to Thomas Nowotny, the project leader at the University of Sussex, computer modeling techniques in bee brain research will be used extensively for brain models and other neurological projects.