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Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies

To avoid crashing onto the floor, a free falling fly needs to trigger its wingbeats quickly and control the orientation of its thrust accurately and swiftly to stabilize its pitch and hence its speed. Behavioural data have suggested that the vertical optic flow produced by the fall and crossing the...

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Autores principales: Goulard, Roman, Vercher, Jean-Louis, Viollet, Stéphane
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5780187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29361632
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005894
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author Goulard, Roman
Vercher, Jean-Louis
Viollet, Stéphane
author_facet Goulard, Roman
Vercher, Jean-Louis
Viollet, Stéphane
author_sort Goulard, Roman
collection PubMed
description To avoid crashing onto the floor, a free falling fly needs to trigger its wingbeats quickly and control the orientation of its thrust accurately and swiftly to stabilize its pitch and hence its speed. Behavioural data have suggested that the vertical optic flow produced by the fall and crossing the visual field plays a key role in this anti-crash response. Free fall behavior analyses have also suggested that flying insect may not rely on graviception to stabilize their flight. Based on these two assumptions, we have developed a model which accounts for hoverflies´ position and pitch orientation recorded in 3D with a fast stereo camera during experimental free falls. Our dynamic model shows that optic flow-based control combined with closed-loop control of the pitch suffice to stabilize the flight properly. In addition, our model sheds a new light on the visual-based feedback control of fly´s pitch, lift and thrust. Since graviceptive cues are possibly not used by flying insects, the use of a vertical reference to control the pitch is discussed, based on the results obtained on a complete dynamic model of a virtual fly falling in a textured corridor. This model would provide a useful tool for understanding more clearly how insects may or not estimate their absolute attitude.
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spelling pubmed-57801872018-02-08 Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies Goulard, Roman Vercher, Jean-Louis Viollet, Stéphane PLoS Comput Biol Research Article To avoid crashing onto the floor, a free falling fly needs to trigger its wingbeats quickly and control the orientation of its thrust accurately and swiftly to stabilize its pitch and hence its speed. Behavioural data have suggested that the vertical optic flow produced by the fall and crossing the visual field plays a key role in this anti-crash response. Free fall behavior analyses have also suggested that flying insect may not rely on graviception to stabilize their flight. Based on these two assumptions, we have developed a model which accounts for hoverflies´ position and pitch orientation recorded in 3D with a fast stereo camera during experimental free falls. Our dynamic model shows that optic flow-based control combined with closed-loop control of the pitch suffice to stabilize the flight properly. In addition, our model sheds a new light on the visual-based feedback control of fly´s pitch, lift and thrust. Since graviceptive cues are possibly not used by flying insects, the use of a vertical reference to control the pitch is discussed, based on the results obtained on a complete dynamic model of a virtual fly falling in a textured corridor. This model would provide a useful tool for understanding more clearly how insects may or not estimate their absolute attitude. Public Library of Science 2018-01-23 /pmc/articles/PMC5780187/ /pubmed/29361632 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005894 Text en © 2018 Goulard et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Goulard, Roman
Vercher, Jean-Louis
Viollet, Stéphane
Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
title Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
title_full Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
title_fullStr Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
title_full_unstemmed Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
title_short Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
title_sort modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5780187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29361632
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005894
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