Pitch perfect: how fruit flies control their body pitch angle

Whitehead, Samuel C.; Beatus, Tsevi; Canale, Luca; Cohen, Itai

doi:10.1242/jeb.122622

Cited by 35 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…In contrast, a study by Whitehead et al (2015) showed that D. melanogaster can initiate a pitch stabilisation locomotion (by wing-stroke modulation) in only 10±2 ms, significantly faster than the results in the present study. This is also likely due to the different roles of the abdomen addressed earlier, as well as the fundamental differences in the responses of insects in free-flight versus tethered conditions (as the body orientation of the insect is not physically altered under tethered conditions).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic-flow and headwind

Lawson

Srinivasan

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Insects are magnificent fliers that are capable of performing many complex tasks such as speed regulation, smooth landings and collision avoidance, even though their computational abilities are limited by their small brain. To investigate how flying insects respond to changes in wind speed and surrounding optic flow, the open-loop sensorimotor response of female Queensland fruit flies (Bactrocera tryoni) was examined. A total of 136 flies were exposed to stimuli comprising sinusoidally varying optic flow and air flow (simulating forward movement) under tethered conditions in a virtual reality arena. Two responses were measured: the thrust and the abdomen pitch. The dynamics of the responses to optic flow and air flow were measured at various frequencies, and modelled as a multicompartment linear system, which accurately captured the behavioural responses of the fruit flies. The results indicate that these two behavioural responses are concurrently sensitive to changes of optic flow as well as wind. The abdomen pitch showed a streamlining response, where the abdomen was raised higher as the magnitude of either stimulus was increased. The thrust, in contrast, exhibited a counter-phase response where maximum thrust occurred when the optic flow or wind flow was at a minimum, indicating that the flies were attempting to maintain an ideal flight speed. When the changes in the wind and optic flow were in phase (i.e. did not contradict each other), the net responses (thrust and abdomen pitch) were well approximated by an equally weighted sum of the responses to the individual stimuli. However, when the optic flow and wind stimuli were presented in counterphase, the flies seemed to respond to only one stimulus or the other, demonstrating a form of 'selective attention'.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic-flow and headwind

Lawson

Srinivasan

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…increasing the stroke amplitude and changing the mean stroke angle), resulting in the forward shift of the aerodynamic center. Similar result was given by Whitehead et al [14] For lateral motion, the stroke amplitude also played an important role in controlling roll perturbations [15]. Furthermore, Ristroph and others indicated that the wing pitch angle modulations contribute to roll and yaw corrective torque in fruit flies [11],[16],[17].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…Several researches on the fruitflies pitch motion showed that the generation of the pitch moment is ascribed to the shift of mean stroke angle [12],[14]. It’s clear that the shift of mean stroke angle leads to the change of moment arm of the lift to COM and varies the pitch moment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation of the pitch moment during the controlled flight after takeoff of fruitflies

Chen

Sun

2017

PLoS ONE

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In the present paper, the controlled flight of fruitflies after voluntary takeoff is studied. Wing and body kinematics of the insects after takeoff are measured using high-speed video techniques, and the aerodynamic force and moment are calculated by the computational fluid dynamics method based on the measured data. How the control moments are generated is analyzed by correlating the computed moments with the wing kinematics. A fruit-fly has a large pitch-up angular velocity owing to the takeoff jump and the fly controls its body attitude by producing pitching moments. It is found that the pitching moment is produced by changes in both the aerodynamic force and the moment arm. The change in the aerodynamic force is mainly due to the change in angle of attack. The change in the moment arm is mainly due to the change in the mean stroke angle and deviation angle, and the deviation angle plays a more important role than the mean stroke angle in changing the moment arm (note that change in deviation angle implies variation in the position of the aerodynamic stroke plane with respect to the anatomical stroke plane). This is unlike the case of fruitflies correcting pitch perturbations in steady free flight, where they produce pitching moment mainly by changes in mean stroke angle.

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“…Here, the fly seems to be measuring the body's angular velocity and its integral, the total angular displacement, to determine the appropriate change in the wing-stroke parameters (Fig. 1) [9,11,12]. Remarkably, flies accomplish this feat of stabilization using a relatively sparse motor system, with only 12 steering muscles to modulate the kinematics of each wing.…”

Section: Discussion-our Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flight of the fruit fly

Cohen

2019

Phys. Rev. Fluids

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There comes a time in each of our lives where we grab a thick section of the morning paper, roll it up and set off to do battle with one of nature's most accomplished aviatorsthe fly. If, however, instead of swatting we could magnify our view and experience the world in slow motion we would be privy to a world-class ballet full of graceful figure-eight wing strokes, effortless pirouettes, and astonishing acrobatics. After watching such a magnificent display, who among us could destroy this virtuoso? How do flies produce acrobatic maneuvers with such precision? What control mechanisms do they need to maneuver? More abstractly, what problem are they solving as they fly? In this article and the associated video presentation of my invited lecture from the 71 st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics, I describe the challenges associated with answering these questions, our attempts to investigate them, and, through various demonstrations depicted in the video, qualitatively illustrate the mechanisms used by these insects to achieve these astonishing behaviors.

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Pitch perfect: how fruit flies control their body pitch angle

Cited by 35 publications

References 76 publications

Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic-flow and headwind

Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic-flow and headwind

Generation of the pitch moment during the controlled flight after takeoff of fruitflies

Flight of the fruit fly

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