2oceansvibe News | South African and international news

Sponsored by RSAWeb rss
2ov Radio
  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Seth Rotherham
  • du Cap Collection
  • Café du Cap
  • Cabine du Cap
  • Media Packs / Advertising
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Anonymous Tips
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
Seth Rotherham
  • Bug’s Life: So They Put A Tiny Camera On A Beetle And Captured This Footage [Video]

    23 Jul 2020 by Jasmine Stone in Animals, Environment, Tech/Sci, Video
    Related Posts
    • "No One Is Safe" - Paris Is Battling A Really Bad Bedbug Problem
    • Neo-Nazis Are Now Driving Beetles To The Brink Of Extinction
    • Pro Surfer Dies In Freak Surfing Accident After Surfboard Impales His Groin [Video]
    • Nightmare Scenes Down Under As Swarm Of Mozzies Descends [Video]
    • Just For Fun: Guess How Many Ants There Are On Earth

    The 1998 movie A Bug’s Life was one of Pixar’s early smash hits, but if you want to know what a beetle’s view really looks like, researchers at the University of Washington have you covered.

    They have developed a tiny wireless steerable camera that can be fitted to an insect – in this case, a beetle – which then streams video to a smartphone.

    Dubbed the ‘GoPro for Beetles’ by some, the camera can pivot 60 degrees thanks to a mechanical arm, and weighs around 250 milligrams.

    That’s about a tenth of the weight of a single playing card, in case you needed a comparison.

    More from the University of Washington:

    To mimic an animal’s vision, the researchers used a tiny, ultra-low-power black-and-white camera that can sweep across a field of view with the help of a mechanical arm. The arm moves when the team applies a high voltage, which makes the material bend and move the camera to the desired position. Unless the team applies more power, the arm stays at that angle for about a minute before relaxing back to its original position. This is similar to how people can keep their head turned in one direction for only a short period of time before returning to a more neutral position…

    Image: Mark Stone/University of Washington

    The camera and arm are controlled via Bluetooth from a smartphone from a distance up to 120 meters away, just a little longer than a football field.

    The cameras were fitted to the back of two beetle species – a death-feigning beetle and a Pinacate beetle – that are known to carry loads far heavier than the camera itself.

    Here’s a summary of how it all works:

    If you’re worried about the beetles’ wellbeing, you might be pleased to know that they lived for at least a year after the experiment ended.

    More from the research team:

    “This is the first time that we’ve had a first-person view from the back of a beetle while it’s walking around. There are so many questions you could explore, such as how does the beetle respond to different stimuli that it sees in the environment?” [co-lead author Vikram] Iyer said.

    “But also, insects can traverse rocky environments, which is really challenging for robots to do at this scale. So this system can also help us out by letting us see or collect samples from hard-to-navigate spaces.”

    I possess neither the skills, not the patience, to attempt anything even remotely close to this.

    Respect to the researchers.

    More on their findings here.

    [source:washingtonuni]

    • ← More Kids Falling (And Caught) From Apartment Blocks – This Time In France [Video]
    • How To Build Your Own Exercise Bike [Video] →
    • Tweet
    • Tags:
    • beetle
    • beetles
    • GoPro
    • insect
    • Insects

    Latest News

    • Botswana Shut Its Borders To Fresh Goods From SA – Does This Mean Cheaper Produce Locally?

      [imagesource:peakpix] Botswana extended its ban on fresh goods from South Africa on Mon...

    • Locally Created Card Game ‘Tenets’ Is A Must-Have For Family Holidays [Video]

      [imagesource:tenets.life] If your family get-togethers are anything like mine, "Great t...

    • Facebook Group Dedicated To Identifying Men Who Should Be Avoided On Dating Apps “Extremely Concerning”

      [imagesource:wallpaperflare] Women have often needed to band together to protect themse...

    • Eight Local Restaurants On This Year’s Top 100 Restaurants Of The World List

      [imagesource:instagram/fynrestaurant] That 'wonderland of exotic flavours' that you see...

    • Could This Be The Dumbest TikTok Food Trend Of The Year?[Video]

      [imagesource:alteredreality] TikTok has a huge subgroup that features videos of some of...


    • 2oceansvibe Partners

    • CONTACT US
    • GOT A HOT STORY?
    • 2oceansvibe Radio
    • 2oceansvibe Media
    • Media Pack
    • Seth Rotherham
    • Café du Cap
    • Cabine du Cap
    • Cape Town City Accommodation
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Business
    • Media
    • Entertainment
    • Tech/Sci
    • World
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
    • Sport
    • Politics
  • Follow

    2oceansvibe.com is part of the 2oceansVibe Media Group

    DMMA Logo