A team of researchers at the University of Washington have created something they call “a GoPro for beetles.” It is actually a small backpack with a camera controlled by a smartphone that can travel aboard an insect, giving us a panoramic view of the world.
The camera, which is detailed in an article that has just been published in the magazine Robotic Science, is described as a “low-power, low-weight wireless camera system that can capture a first-person view of what is happening from a real live insect or create vision for small robots.”
Weighing just 250 milligrams, about a tenth the weight of a game card, it sits on a mechanical arm that can be rotated 60 degrees to capture “panoramic” images and streams video to a smartphone at a rate of 1 to 5 frames per second (could we? call that video?).
You can learn more and see the camera in action in the video and photos below:
The advance here is not about the size of the camera, but the amount of energy consumed. As explained in an article on the University of Washington website, small cameras like smartphone ones won’t work because they need too much power – the battery ends up being bigger than the camera itself, making the setup too big and heavy (or downright cruel) for an insect to carry.
To overcome this limitation, the researchers used an ultra-low power system that overcomes its lack of resolution when connected to a mechanical arm. That way, you can scan your field of view instead of capturing it all at once, saving energy in the process.
“We can track a moving object without having to expend energy to move an entire robot,” explained co-lead author and doctoral student Vikram Iyer. “These images also have a higher resolution than using a wide angle lens, which would create an image with the same number of pixels divided into a much larger area.”
In other words, they are stitching panoramas together rather than wasting energy on a higher resolution sensor with a wider field of view.
To test the camera, the researchers connected the system to the back of two different types of beetles, which are known to carry much heavier loads. They then added an accelerometer to the system so that it only captures images when the beetle is moving. Finally, they tested the system and found that they could record up to six with one load, depending on how far the beetle moved.
As you can see in the video above, the results are not the most exciting images I’ve ever seen, but the researchers are excited anyway.
“This is the first time that we have a first-person view from the back of a beetle while walking. There are so many questions you could explore, “said Iyer. “But also, insects can traverse rocky environments, which is really challenging for robots on this scale. So this system can also help us by allowing us to view or collect samples of hard-to-navigate spaces. “
To learn more about this fascinating small camera system, head over to the UW website or read the full research paper at this link.
(via Engadget)
Image credits: All photos by Mark Stone / University of Washington.
