Neural Mechanisms Underlying Visual Control of Flight in Honeybees

Recent behavioural studies of freely flying bees have uncovered novel principles by which bees regulate flight speed, avoid collisions with obstacles, orchestrate smooth landings and estimate distance flown. This is a proposal to investigate the neural mechanisms that mediate these behaviours. The results will provide new insights into the mechanisms subserving flight control and navigation, as well as suggest innovative, biologically inspired stratagems for the guidance of autonomous aerial vehicles, with applications in national defence and planetary exploration.