Researchers study bee brains to develop flying robots

02.10.2012
University researchers are studying the brains of honey bees in an attempt to build an autonomous flying robot.

By creating models of the systems in a bee's brain that control vision and sense of smell, scientists are hoping to build a flying robot that can do more than carry out pre-programmed instructions. This robot would be able to sense and act as autonomously as a bee.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield and the University of Sussex in the U.K. are teaming up to take on what they call one of the major challenges of science today - building a with artificial intelligence good enough to perform complex tasks as well as an animal can.

If that's possible, the flying robot would be able to use its "sense of smell" to detect gases or other odors and then home in on the source.

"The development of an artificial brain is one of the greatest challenges in artificial intelligence," said Dr. James Marshall, lead project researcher at the University of Sheffield. "So far, researchers have typically studied brains such as those of rats, monkeys and humans, but actually simpler organisms, such as social insects, have surprisingly advanced cognitive abilities."

The universities are using GPU accelerators, donated by Nvidia Corp., to perform the massive calculations needed to simulate a brain using a standard desktop PC, instead of a far more expensive supercomputer.