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It's pretty amazing to me that insect brains, as big as a few grains of sand, still outperform the best we can do in autonomous driving and navigation. They can
by ams6110 8y ago
It's pretty amazing to me that insect brains, as big as a few grains of sand, still outperform the best we can do in autonomous driving and navigation. They can fly around without hitting each other or other objects, they can leave their nest and find their way back, etc.
- jstanley 8y ago> They can fly around without hitting each other or other objects They actually can't. They just harmlessly bounce off things when they hit them due to their small size and low speed.
- rbranson 8y agoAlso our creations lack a self-healing exoskeleton.
- nannal 8y agoI'm going to need about 4 years a quite a bit of VC money and will I have the autonomous driving solution for you!
- kaybe 8y agoIt's interesting though that a fly will bounce against the window all day (barring statistical luck) while a wasp or bee will bounce once, understand that that place cannot be passed, bounce the next window once and then find the open one very soon.
- lostlogin 8y agoMy milage varied. After 30 mins of banging on windows, half dead bees fall down and sting you if you stand on them. Don’t have open honey in your house in autumn, and the problem is much reduced.
- jly 8y agoThis is not true at all. First, many insects can fly very fast. Even honeybees, which are notoriously poor fliers in the insect world, can reach up to 20mph, carrying a load of pollen or nectar. Dragonflies can reach over 60mph, and some flies may be able to reach upwards of 80-90mph. Second, many of these insects have excellent visual collision avoidance mechanisms and the strongest fliers have exquisite control over their flight. There is a lot of literature on this topic.
- giancarlostoro 8y agoWell bugs hit windshields and fly against walls all the time, but they can afford to "crash"
- lostlogin 8y agoI mow the lawn near beehives and they do not steer well. There is a special terror that comes from a mouth hit from an inbound bee. The more loaded up they are and the sunnier it is the worse they get.
- astrodust 8y agoThe bigger bees steer pretty well considering their size. They just don't react to moving obstacles as well as static ones.