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Insect Inspired technology

There are over 700, 000 species of insects. They are well adapted for their environment. All insects grow from eggs. They go through various stages until they reach adulthood. This transformation through these stages is called metamorphosis.

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on earth.Insects belong to class Insecta and belong to the phylum Arthropoda. They are cold blooded. Their body is covered with exoskeleton made of a substance called chitin

Parts of an Insect

The head contains the feelers (antennae), eyes and mouth.

The legs and wings are fastened to the thorax. It contains the main muscles so that the insect can run, fly, swim, or walk.

The abdomen is where the stomach is and where the eggs are produced. Some insects have a stinger at the tip of the abdomen.

They have one pair of antennae which help them to find food.

They have no lungs but they have small openings on their bodies.

Flies and Mosquitoes are commonly found insects. They cause Infectious diseases like Malaria, Cholera, dysentery etc. We have to keep our surroundings clean to prevent such vector borne diseases.

Ants, Bees, Termites and Wasps are the Social Insects They share the work & they live in colonies.

All insects have compound eyes. Compound eyes are the wonderful creation of nature. Compound eyes have many lenses for each eye.

Structure of Compound Eyes

Compound eyes are made up of clusters of photoreceptor units, called ommatidium. Each ommatidium consists of:Alensand a transparent crystalline cone that reflects and focuses light.Light-sensitivevisual cellsarranged in a radial pattern like the sections of an orange.

Pigment cells, ensure that when the light is entering the ommatidium parallel, it reaches the visual cells and triggers nerve impulses. Pigment cells and visual cells within the ommatidium detect light levels and color.The pigment connected to nerve fibers lead to the optic nerve, transmits impulses to the visual processing area of the brain.

The more ommatidia a compound eye has, the greater the resolution and each ommatidium functions separately. There may be thousands of ommatidia in a compound eye.The compound eye is so structured that each ommatidium is pointed slightly in different directions. This allows for a wider view.. Salient Features of Compound Eyes

Each ommatidium will transmit information from just one small area within that field. The brain will then assemble the impulses from all of the ommatidia to form a composite image of its surroundings.The compound eyes of insects allow them to have panoramic vision because the individual ommatidia provide fragments of an image that are then simultaneously combined to rapidly build up a larger overall picture.

Compound eyes produce images that are a mosaic composed of many dots.When an object moves across a compound eye's field of vision, the ommatidia are turned off or on, producing a flicker effect.Some compound eyes have ommatidia that contain two or more pigments. Species with that kind of compound eye have some color vision.Some compound eyes have pigments that can detect ultraviolet light also.

Compound Eyes have Wide Angle View

Can the insects see colors?Almost all insects can perceive the complete spectrum of colors.They can also discriminate between single colors and mixtures of colors.Their eyes contain two types of visual pigments.One pigment absorbs green and yellow light.The other pigment absorbs blue and ultraviolet light.Insects can not see red light.

Most of the insects perceive UV-Yellow color combination.The UV- Yellow combination appears as blue- green color.White flowers appear blue to their eyes.

We see as yellow colored flowers as yellow but the insect sees two tone colors

Insects see two different color tones

Humans see this wayInsects see this way

How are the compound eyes useful in Modern Technology?

1.The drones are used in surveillance systems in unmanned flying vehicles or spy satellites.Lenses can be made just like compound eyes of insects. Such lenses can be used in the cameras. Such cameras can be used in Drones

2.The compound eye lenses can be fitted in the cameras of Artificial Earth Satellites for detecting natural resources like minerals, oil etc.

3.The compound eye lenses can be fitted with in the cameras of endoscopes to give a clear picture about our internal organs so that pin hole surgeries can be performed by doctors very effectively.

Placing the compound eye lens in the Eyepiece of the Endoscope give the Doctors a wide angle view

4.Honey Bees are endangered. Robot Bees can be developed to pollinate flowers and field crops. They can be used in search and rescue tasks. They can also be used for environment exploration, military surveillance, climate and traffic monitoring.

Military guns of the future may be fitted with compound eye lenses in the camera so that future wars will be Techno Wars.

6.Future Fighter Planes also will have their cameras fitted with compound eye lenses.

Nano Drones with compound eye- lenses can be used to detect intestinal obstructions and other diseases

8.Micro Drones can be let in the blood stream to cure Atherosclerosis and to remove blockages in the Arteries and to prevent Heart Attacks.Micro Drones will also remove the plaque formation in the arteries and hence prevent heart disease due to hyper- lipidaemia.

The uniqueness of our planet is interdependency of species for mutual survival. The earth, its biodiversity can survive only if the individual species survive.

We can innovate several sustainable technological applications to better our lives, only when we learn and understand the importance of other organisms in our Bio- Diversity.

Study Nature.Understand Nature.Love Nature.Stay close to Nature. Learn from Nature

All images are taken from :https://www.google.co.in/imagesPresentation Created by : Kausalya Janardanan26/02/2016