Vision, perception, navigation and 'cognition' in honeybees and applications to aerial robotics

Abstract

This review summarizes research carried out in the author's laboratory investigating the ways in which honeybees use vision to guide their flight and navigate in their environment, and describes how these principles have been used to design, build and test biologically-inspired systems for the guidance and navigation of unmanned aerial vehicles. It also outlines studies investigating the capacities of honeybees in the areas of visual perception, pattern recognition, and 'cognition'.

Keywords: Cognition; Flight guidance; Honeybee vision; Navigation; Optic flow; Perception.