Miniature curved artificial compound eyes

Abstract

In most animal species, vision is mediated by compound eyes, which offer lower resolution than vertebrate single-lens eyes, but significantly larger fields of view with negligible distortion and spherical aberration, as well as high temporal resolution in a tiny package. Compound eyes are ideally suited for fast panoramic motion perception. Engineering a miniature artificial compound eye is challenging because it requires accurate alignment of photoreceptive and optical components on a curved surface. Here, we describe a unique design method for biomimetic compound eyes featuring a panoramic, undistorted field of view in a very thin package. The design consists of three planar layers of separately produced arrays, namely, a microlens array, a neuromorphic photodetector array, and a flexible printed circuit board that are stacked, cut, and curved to produce a mechanically flexible imager. Following this method, we have prototyped and characterized an artificial compound eye bearing a hemispherical field of view with embedded and programmable low-power signal processing, high temporal resolution, and local adaptation to illumination. The prototyped artificial compound eye possesses several characteristics similar to the eye of the fruit fly Drosophila and other arthropod species. This design method opens up additional vistas for a broad range of applications in which wide field motion detection is at a premium, such as collision-free navigation of terrestrial and aerospace vehicles, and for the experimental testing of insect vision theories.

Science, technology and the future of small autonomous drones

“…Similarly, specialized micro optic flow sensors have been used for altitude regulation in sub-1 g flying robots 70 . Miniature, curved, artificial compound eyes with a high density of photoreceptors, wide fields of view and computational properties similar to insect eyes have been recently described 71,72 , but have not yet been used in drones.…”

Bio-Inspired Wide-Angle Broad-Spectrum Cylindrical Lens Based on Reflections from Micro-Mirror Array on a Cylindrical Elastomeric Membrane

“…All parameters displayed here are in the unit of waves. Another fascinating feature of our device lies in its ability to achieve a wide angle (FOV) of 152° enabled by the spherical geometry across the longitudinal axis [25,26], as demonstrated in Figure 6c The FOV measurement started with the sequential illumination of our device placed on a fixed stage at the center of the circular rotating breadboard (RBB12, Thorlabs) by a He-Ne laser mounted on the circumference (see Figure 5b for the system set-up). Three focused line images captured from three different angles, −76° (left), 0° (center), and 76° (right), in one dynamic scan were selected to represent the total 152° viewing angle.…”

Animal coloration research: why it matters

“…Compared with simple vertebrate eyes, compound eyes are compact and lightweight, providing a wide field of view with high temporal resolution, given their tiny packaging [25]. Mimicking these properties in cameras and sensors is giving way to a new generation of imaging technology.…”

“…Mimicking these properties in cameras and sensors is giving way to a new generation of imaging technology. Recently, we have seen the invention of a 'bee-eye' camera with a 280-degree field of view (figure 1c,d; [26]), a miniature curved artificial compound eye [25], a digital camera covered with 180 artificial ommatidia, inspired by eyes of fire ants Solenopsis fugax and bark beetles Hylastes nigrinus [27], and the development of hyperacute visual sensors based on retinal micro-movements in flies [28]. This new fleet of imaging technology has important consequences for surveillance, medical endoscopy, smart clothing, robotics and drones [24,25,29].…”