Meeting Abstract

21.1  Sunday, Jan. 4  Probing insect flight stability and control by inducing aerial stumbles COHEN, I.*; RISTROPH, L. G.; BERMAN, G. J.; BERGOU, A. J.; WANG, Z. J.; Cornell University; Cornell University; Cornell University; Cornell University; Cornell University ic64@cornell.edu

Flying insects are both marvelously stable and annoyingly evasive. Whether awe-inspiring or frustrating, flight must be guided by a sophisticated system of controls. Here, we introduce a new experimental and analytical approach for exploring the flight stability and control system of free-flying fruit flies. We have devised an apparatus that applies physical perturbations to flying insects and simultaneously captures videos of the in-flight response to such perturbations. From these videos, we use a new motion tracking method to extract the complete, three-dimensional motion of the insect body and wings as the insect cruises, then stumbles due to the perturbation, and finally recovers. We focus on two methods for exploring the fast response of the flight control system. In one set of experiments, we perturb the insect with a time-dependent body force of our choosing. In the second, our stimulus is a brief puff of air, which is aerodynamically complex, yet naturalistic. In both cases, the insects are induced to stumble in mid-air, and we find that fruit flies are capable of strikingly accurate and fast course-correction. We explore how this course-correction behavior offers insights into the control algorithm of flying insects.