Enhanced navigation, smarter drones, more-versatile cameras and the blackest black fabric… there’s a lot we’re still learning from birds. Here are three intriguing research projects currently underway.
FROM BIRDS OF PREY, BETTER DRONES
At University of Surrey, researchers are working on a new type of drone that aims to mimic the remarkable aerial precision displayed by species such as owls and raptors.
The project, called Learning2Fly, was announced in August and will build drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capable of weaving their way through tight spaces, dodging obstacles, and operating in unpredictable or rapidly changing wind conditions.
The idea was born of the question: How do some birds hunt so capably amid varied and changing city skylines, through cluttered and turbulent airspace?
“We’re combining experimental flight data with machine learning to help drones predict and control their motion in real time to imitate a bird’s typical flight path,” project lead Olaf Marxen, a senior lecturer at University of Surrey, said in a statement.
Eventually, the hope is that such drones will be able to perform wind turbine inspections at sea, for instance, or deliver packages more seamlessly in densely populated areas.
FROM EAGLE EYES BETTER CAMERAS
Research into exactly how eagles, hawks and falcons zero in on distant prey is expected to help develop cameras that can magnify distant objects without distorting the rest of the image.
Traditional zoom lenses can magnify a distant object, but at the cost of all focus on its surroundings, leaving the background an artful blur.
Birds’ eyes do not do this; it would be hazardous if they did. Instead, their eyes have one or two foveal regions for sharp, zoomed-in vision at the centre of the frame (for better aim) and a peripheral region with lower resolution but high levels of sharpness and clarity, and high sensitivity to motion.
Semiconductor-based cameras are now working to replicate this effect, with researchers at South Korea’s Institute for Basic Science (IBS) already using a prototype to track moving objects with greater precision.
Such cameras could be used to improve autonomous performance in robots and unmanned surveillance vehicles, as well as for wildlife monitoring, among other applications.
FROM FEATHERS, A FABRIC THAT DEFLECTS LIGHT INWARD
Apparel design researchers at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology (CHE) created the world’s blackest black fabric in December.
Their inspiration: the striking plume of the magnificent riflebird, which is so dark that it deflects light inward, absorbing nearly all of it, and appearing extraordinarily black.
“On analysing some of the feathers, we realised the ultra-black ones have these really intricate hierarchical structures in the barbules, along with the melanin. We knew we wanted to combine these aspects in a textile,” says project lead Larissa M Shepherd, an assistant professor of fibre science at CHE.
To create the fabric, the team dyed white merino wool in a synthetic melanin called polydopamine and created nanofibrils to mimic the light-trapping capabilities of the riflebird’s feathers. With an average total reflectance of 0.13%, it is the darkest fabric yet reported.
Applications include use in thermoregulating clothes, solar panels and precision optics in devices such as cameras and telescopes, as well as in agriculture and space technology.
