Vestibular responses play an important role in maintaining gaze and posture stability during rotational motion. Previous studies suggest that these responses are state dependent, their expression varying with the environmental and locomotor conditions of the animal. In this study, we simulated an ethologically relevant state in the laboratory to study state-dependent vestibular responses in bir...

Orientation, the spatial organization of animal behavior, is an essential faculty of animals. Bacteria and lower animals such as insects exhibit taxis, innate orientation behavior, directly toward or away from a directional cue. Organisms can also orient themselves at a specific angle relative to the cues. In this study, using Drosophila as a model system, we established a visual orientation co...

Most flying insects extract information about their spatial orientation and self-motion from visual cues such as global patterns of light intensity or optic flow. We present an insect-inspired neuronal filter model and show how optimal receptive fields for the detection of flight-relevant input patterns can be derived directly from the local receptor signals during typical flight behavior. Usin...

Tracking also called Position and Orientation Tracking or Position Tracking and mapping, is used in VEs where the orientation and the position of a real physical object is required. Specifying a point in 3-D requires the transition position, that is the Cartesian coordinates x, y, and z. However, many VE applications manipulate entire objects and this requires the orientation to be specified by...

Hummingbirds (Trochilidae) are widely known for their insect-like flight strokes characterized by high wing beat frequency, small muscle strains and a highly supinated wing orientation during upstroke that allows for lift production in both halves of the stroke cycle. Here, we show that hummingbirds achieve these functional traits within the limits imposed by a vertebrate endoskeleton and muscl...

24 25 Vestibular responses play an important role in maintaining gaze and posture stability 26 during rotational motion. Previous studies suggest that these responses are state-dependent, their 27 expression varying with the environmental and locomotor conditions of the animal. In this 28 study, we simulated an ethologically relevant state in the lab in order to study state-dependent 29 vestibu...

We report on the design, calibration and in-flight performance of a sun sensor, which is used to determine the attitude of a balloon-borne telescope. The device uses a position-sensitive detector (PSD) in a pinhole camera. By determining the position of the image of the Sun on the PSD, the orientation of the sun sensor and the boresight of the telescope relative to the Sun can be determined. Th...

Landing is an important but understudied behavior that flying animals must perform constantly. In still air, insects decelerate smoothly prior to landing by employing the relatively simple strategy of maintaining a constant rate of image expansion during their approach. However, it is unclear whether insects employ this strategy when faced with challenging flight environments. Here, we tested t...

The sonar beam of an echolocating bat forms a spatial window restricting the echo information returned from the environment. Investigating the shape and orientation of the sonar beam produced by a bat as it flies and performs various behavioral tasks may yield insight into the operation of its sonar system. This paper presents recordings of vertical and horizontal cross sections of the sonar be...

Fast and efficient recovery of flight orientation during takeoff or after a severe disturbance is desirable for micro flapping fliers. Navigating body through desired path in limited space and time needs fast and accurate control mechanisms to modulate flight moments. In this work we shot high-speed videos from dragonflies taking off starting from various initial orientations. Modifying equatio...