The male silkmoth may hold the key to early detection of environmental spills and leaks.
A giant Polyphemus silk moth Image: OakleyOriginals |
According to new research the moth tracks the odour from the female's sex pheromone and follows it using a distinctive walking pattern.
By analysing the moth's neural mechanisms, from the level of a single neuron to the moth's overall behaviour, scientists from the University of Tokyo were able to develop a small two-wheeled robot which can be controlled by the insect.
The next stage of the programme is to develop a mobile robot capable of replicating the activity of the insect-controlled version. The Tokyo team will have to create an 'artificial brain' to control the robot, based on the team's latest understanding of the silkmoth's behaviour.
The long-term aspirations of the group is to to apply the research to other autonomous robots. Based on the odour-related behaviour, the devices can then be used to track down specific smells - and thus their sources. Assuming the extreme sensitivity of the smell sensors, the robots can be programmed to identify and locate spills and leaks of chemicals, hydrocarbon, or other substances that could threaten the surrounding environment.
One critical element of developing these sophisticated tools is in the time taken to identify and react to the odour. This is proving to be one of the challenges for the Tokyo scientists, as they establish the time taken between the moth detecting the smell and moving, with the reaction time of the robot's motor.