Meeting Abstract
89-4 Wednesday, Jan. 6 11:00 A flea beetle jumps like a coin flips WU, J.N*; SHI, G.Y; REN, J; HU, D.L; GE, S.Q; 1. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China. 2. George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; 3. Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China; 1. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China; 2. George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; 1. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China 791396787@qq.com
When we flip a coin, we expect a 50 percent chance of it landing on heads. But not with the flea beetle. Flea beetles live in a maze of leaves and other vegetation. To escape predation, it can jump over 20 body lengths, turning up to 20 somersaults in the process, similarly to the way we toss a coin. Surprisingly, the beetle lands on its feet 90 percent of the time. We perform high-speed videography with landing platforms of varying orientation. We hypothesize beetles use a vision-based control law during their flight trajectory, opening their wings to varying their drag in mid-flight so that they stick a perfect landing, every time.
