Tiny sensor system to monitor insects

Tiny sensor system to monitor insects

Keywords: Monitoring, Sensors

According to the research team, the University of Tsukuba – "Science City," 100 miles from Tokyo, in Ibaraki Prefecture, has developed a miniature sensor system that can be used to monitor and analyse the movements of insects in fine detail. The objective is to collect data that can be used to analyse the way the insects move in order to design new mechanisms for micromachines.

As conceived, the units of the future will be as small or even smaller than insects – and, at this scale – factors such as wind resistance become important in ways designers of full-scale machines need not consider. Engineers tasked with designing such micromachines have thus begun to look at insects for insights.

High-speed camera systems can reveal what insects look like when they move,but the new sensory systems open a window on the inner workings of an insect as it extends and contracts its muscles.

The new device is a chip that combines a radio transmitter with a detector whose electrodes can be inserted into the muscles and nerves of the insect. The signals generated when the muscles move are captured by the detector and sent by the transmitter to an antenna. Researchers plan to attach the device to a large moth so as to study the signal patterns in the wing muscles when the moth flies.