NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2012

寻找路径和计划机动：鸟类如何在复杂杂乱的世界中飞行飞行动物经常高速在森林、城市环境和其他非常复杂的环境中飞行。这些飞行需要，1)对周围环境的快速视觉识别，2)快速准确地规划畅通的路线，以及3)准确的机动。这三种行为是相互依赖的：视觉通知路径规划，路径规划定义了要执行的动作，其执行呈现了一个新的场景。尽管长期以来，人们一直在努力了解鸟类如何处理视觉信息、规划路径以及它们动作时的空气动力学，但很少有工作探索这些方面在现实世界中是如何协同工作的。这项工作是研究视觉、路径规划和真实世界中的空气动力学机动之间的反馈。这个家伙正在开发一种仪器，鸽子(Columba Livia)可以在自由飞行时用背包背带携带。这种由视频设备和惯性传感器(IMU)组成的仪器将允许研究人员记录机翼运动学数据、视觉环境数据和自然环境中长时间户外飞行的飞行路径。作为这项工作的一部分，该研究员将通过哈佛生命科学向高中生物教师提供关于最近进展的讲座。推广计划，并为哈佛自然历史博物馆开发展览材料，重点是成功的生物飞行所需的机制。此外，对这些自然过程的更多了解将为未来的工程努力提供信息，以生产完全或部分自主的微型飞行器。

Spotting paths and planning maneuvers: How birds fly through a complex cluttered worldFlying animals regularly navigate through forests, urban settings, and other very complex environments at high speeds. These flights require, 1) rapid visual recognition of the surrounding environment, 2) quick and accurate planning of unobstructed paths, and 3) accurate maneuvers. These three behaviors are interdependent: vision informs path planning which defines the maneuvers to be performed whose execution presents a new scene. Despite a long history of work seeking to understand how birds process visual information, plan paths, and the aerodynamics of their maneuvers, little work has explored how these aspects work together in the real world. This work is investigating the feedback between vision, path planning, and aerodynamic maneuvering in the real world. The fellow is developing instrumentation which pigeons (Columba livia) can carry in backpack-harnesses during free flight. This instrumentation, consisting of video devices and inertial sensors (IMUs), will allow researchers to record wing kinematic data, visual environment data, and flight paths over long outdoor flights through natural environments. As part of this work, the fellow will offer lectures on recent advances to high school biology teachers through Harvard Life Sciences? Outreach Program, and develop exhibit material for the Harvard Museum of Natural History focusing on the mechanisms required for successful biological flight. Additionally, increased understanding of these natural processes will inform future engineering efforts to produce fully or partially autonomous micro aerial vehicles.