The Design and Positioning Method of a Flexible Zoom Artificial Compound Eye

The focal lengths of the sub-eyes in a single-layer uniform curved compound eye are all the same, resulting in poor imaging quality for the compound eye. A non-uniform curved compound eye can effectively solve the problem of poor edge-imaging quality, however, it suffers from a large spherical aberration, and is unable to achieve zoom imaging. To solve these problems, a new type of aspherical artificial compound eye structure with variable focal length is proposed in this paper. The structure divides the surface compound eye into three fan-shaped areas with different focal lengths of the microlens in different areas, which allow the artificial compound eye to zoom in a certain range. The focal length and size of the microlens is determined by the area and the location of the microlens. The aspherical optimization of the microlens is calculated, and spherical aberration in each area is reduced to one percent of the initial value. Through simulation analysis, the designed artificial compound eye structure realizes focal length adjustment and effectively reduces the problem of the poor imaging quality of the curved compound eye edge. As a result, an aspherical artificial compound eye sample—where the number of sub-eyes is n = 61, and the diameter of the base is Φ = 8.66 mm—was prepared by using a molding method. Additionally, the mutual relationship between the eyes of the child was calibrated, and hence, a mathematical model for the simultaneous identification of multiple sub-eyes was established. This study set up an experimental artificial compound eye positioning system, and through a number of microlens capture target point settlement coordinates, achieved an error value of less than 10%.