Dragonflies teach tricks of flight

Studying the dragonfly could have application to UAVs.

THE Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the Australian National University (ANU) are drawing on nature in a project to develop techniques for automatic flight manoeuvres with possible applications in uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs).

DSTO’s Dr Javaan Chahl and ANU scientist Dr Akiko Mizutani are studying the dragonfly and how it fools its prey into believing it’s not moving when it’s actually closing in for the kill. The research, at ANU’s Biorobotics Laboratory, is funded by the US Office of Naval Research and the DSTO.

The work is part of DSTO’s long-range research into autonomous vehicles and is related to Defence’s broad interest in UAVs such as Global Hawk.

Researchers at the Biorobotics Laboratory are also working with NASA to develop other insect inspired technologies that might one day be used in aerial vehicles to explore the surface of Mars.

Dr Mizutani said she and Dr Chahl had found that the dragonfly used the technique called “active motion camouflage” to approach its prey, escape from a predator, or simply to shadow and observe without being noticed.

She said that during motion camouflage the dragonfly maintained precise control of position and speed.

Their efforts will now focus on how dragonflies can fly with such precision using mainly visual information, and further study of dragonfly combat tactics.

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