Bees navigate their surroundings with astonishing precision. Their brains are now inspiring the design of tiny, low-power chips that could one day guide miniature robots and sensors.
When a bee leaves the nest, it already has its own version of a GPS in its head. By analysing patterns in the sky and its flying speed, a bee can keep track of its location and safely return home. Researchers are now taking their cue from this in the hope of transforming how computers find their way around.
“A bee finds its way back without a smartphone or satellite navigation,” said Anders Mikkelsen, professor at Lund University in Sweden. “They do this by looking at the polarisation of the sky, and their speed. Based on that, they don’t get lost.”
The interview with Anders Mikkelsen is published in Horizon – the EU Research & Innovation Magazine