scholarly journals Visual control of landing maneuvers in houseflies on vertical and inverted surfaces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujay Balebail ◽  
Satish K Raja ◽  
Sanjay P. Sane

AbstractLanding maneuvers in flies are complex behaviors that may be conceptually decomposed into a sequence of modular behaviors such as body deceleration, extension of legs, and body rotations which are coordinated to ensure controlled touchdown. The composite nature of these behaviors means that there is variability in the kinematics of landing maneuvers, making it difficult to identify the general rules that govern this behavior. Many previous studies have relied on tethered preparations to study landing behaviors, but tethering constrains some behavioral modules to operate in an open feedback control loop while others remain in closed-loop, thereby inducing experimental artefacts. On the other hand, freely flying insects are hard to precisely control, which may also increase behavioral variability. One approach towards understanding the general rules underlying landing behavior is to determine the common elements of landing kinematics on surfaces that are oriented in different ways. We conducted a series of experiments in which the houseflies, Musca Domestica, were lured to specific visual targets on either vertical or inverted horizontal substrates. These conditions elicited landing behaviors in the flies that could be captured accurately using multiple high-speed video cameras. We filmed the houseflies landing on surfaces oriented along two directions: vertical (vertical landings), and upside down (inverted landings). Our experiments reveal that flies that are able to land feet-first in a controlled manner must satisfy specific criteria, failing which their landing performance is compromised causing their heads to bump into the surface during landing. Flies landing smoothly on both surfaces initiate deceleration at approximately fixed distances from the substrate and in direct proportion to the component of flight velocity normal to the landing surface. The ratio of perpendicular distance to the substrate and velocity at the onset of deceleration was conserved, despite the large differences in the mechanics of the vertical vs. inverted landings. Flies extend their legs independently of distance from the landing surface or their approach velocity normal to the surface, regardless of the orientation of the landing substrate. Together, these results show that the visual initiation of deceleration is robust to orientation of the landing surface, whereas the initiation of leg-extension may be context-dependent and variable which allows flies to land on substrates of various orientations in a versatile manner. These findings may also be of interest to roboticists that are interested in developing flapping robots that can land on surfaces of different orientations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-210
Author(s):  
Meghashyam Panyam ◽  
Beshah Ayalew ◽  
Timothy Rhyne ◽  
Steve Cron ◽  
John Adcox

ABSTRACT This article presents a novel experimental technique for measuring in-plane deformations and vibration modes of a rotating nonpneumatic tire subjected to obstacle impacts. The tire was mounted on a modified quarter-car test rig, which was built around one of the drums of a 500-horse power chassis dynamometer at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research. A series of experiments were conducted using a high-speed camera to capture the event of the rotating tire coming into contact with a cleat attached to the surface of the drum. The resulting video was processed using a two-dimensional digital image correlation algorithm to obtain in-plane radial and tangential deformation fields of the tire. The dynamic mode decomposition algorithm was implemented on the deformation fields to extract the dominant frequencies that were excited in the tire upon contact with the cleat. It was observed that the deformations and the modal frequencies estimated using this method were within a reasonable range of expected values. In general, the results indicate that the method used in this study can be a useful tool in measuring in-plane deformations of rolling tires without the need for additional sensors and wiring.



Author(s):  
Yefei Liu ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Xingtuan Yang ◽  
Liqiang Pan

Series of experiments are conducted in a single microchannel, where subcooled water flows upward inside a transparent and vertical microchannel. The cross section of the channel is rectangle with the hydraulic diameter of 2.8mm and the aspect ratio of 20. The working fluid is 3–15K subcooled and surface heat flux on the channel is between 0–3.64 kW/m2, among which two-phase instability at low vapor quantity may occur. By using a novel transparent heating technique and a high-speed camera, visualization results are obtained. The parameters are acquired with a National Instruments Data Acquisition card. In the experiments, long-period oscillation and short-period oscillation are observed as the primary types of instability in a microchannel. Instability characteristics represented from signals correspond well with the flow pattern. Moreover, effects of several parameters are investigated. The results indicate that the oscillating period generally increases with the heat flux density and decreases with inlet subcooling, while the effects of inlet resistance are more complex.



2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-128
Author(s):  
V. V. Balandin ◽  
V. V. Balandin ◽  
V. V. Parkhachev

Investigating impact interaction of solid and deformed bodies with obstacles of various physical natures requires developing experimental methodologies of registering the parameters of the interaction process. In experimental investigations of impact interaction of solids, it is common practice to measure displacement of strikers as a function of time, as well as their velocity and deceleration. To determine the displacement and velocity of a striker, a radio-interferometric methodology of registering the displacement of its rear end is proposed. In contrast with the registration methods based on high-speed filming and pulsed X-ray photography, the method using a millimeter-range radio-interferometer provides continuous high-accuracy registering of the displacement of the rear end of a striker in a wide range of displacement values. To test the effectiveness of the methodology, a series of experiments have been conducted on registering the motion of a cylindrical striker of an aluminum alloy, fired from a 20mm-dia gas gun. The displacement of the striker was also monitored using high-speed filming. The results of measuring using the two methodologies differ within the limits of the error of measurement. Based on the results of the above experiments, it has been concluded that the methodology of determining the displacement and velocity of strikers in a ballistic experiment using a mm-range radio-interferometer makes it possible to measure practically continuously large displacements (100 mm and larger) to a safe accuracy. The present methodology can be used for measuring the displacement and velocity of the rear end of a striker interacting with obstacles of various physical natures (metals, ceramics, soils, concretes, etc.).



1994 ◽  
Vol 192 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Zollikofer

The locomotory behaviour of 12 ant species belonging to four different genera (Formicinae: Cataglyphis, Formica, Lasius; Myrmicinae: Myrmica) was studied by filming individuals during walking on smoked-glass plates. Subsequent multivariate analyses of walking kinematics and footfall positions showed marked species-specific as well as size-dependent differences in the locomotory behaviour. The geometric properties of the footfall patterns resulting from the alternating tripod gait scale to leg dimensions in a geometric manner. At high speed, footprint distances between succeeding tripods exceed maximum leg extension, indicating that ants are 'trotting' from one tripod to the next one with intermittent aerial phases. In at least one species (Cataglyphis bombycina), there is evidence for quadrupedal locomotion at the highest speed. The functional relationship between stride length (s, the distance between successive footprints of the same foot) and speed (v) was best described by a curvilinear model, s=avb. Exponent b ranges from 0.3 to 0.6 and reveals differences between species. Within species, exponent b is constant, whereas factor a scales to leg length. Females and males show metachronal interleg coordination patterns rather than the alternating tripod coordination pattern seen in workers of the same species.



2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youjie Sheng ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Kui Wu

Abstract A series of experiments was performed to investigate the spreading behavior of firefighting foam solutions on liquid fuel surfaces. The spreading coefficients of six kinds of aqueous film-forming foam solutions and one fluorine-free foam solution on the surface of four liquid fuels, namely, cyclohexane, diesel, n-heptane, and ethanol, were calculated on the basis of surface and interfacial tension. Spreading behavior was studied systematically using a high-speed camera, and then the relationship between spreading behavior and spreading coefficient was analyzed. Furthermore, the spreading area and spreading rate of different foam solution droplets on liquid fuel surfaces were studied in depth. The spreading amount of the foam solution droplets on the liquid fuel surfaces was measured. Four typical spreading phenomena, namely, spreading, suspension, dissolution, and sinking, of AFFF solutions on liquid fuel surfaces were identified. Moreover, a positive spreading coefficient did not necessarily lead to the formation of an aqueous film. The spreading area, spreading rate, and spreading amount were not proportional to the spreading coefficient. During the evaluation of the spreading property of firefighting foam, the spreading coefficient, spreading rate, and spreading amount must be focused on instead of only the spreading coefficient.



Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Huang ◽  
Jian Ruan ◽  
Chenchen Zhang ◽  
Chuan Ding ◽  
Sheng Li

Since many studies on axial piston pumps aim at enhancing their high power-weight ratio, many researchers have focused on the generated mechanical losses by the three friction pairs in such pumps and attempted to diminish them through abundant and new structural designs of the pump’s components. In this paper, a high-speed 2D piston pump is introduced and its architecture is specifically described. Afterward, a mathematical model is established to study the pump’s mechanical efficiency, including the mechanical losses caused by the viscosity and stirring oil. Additionally, in this study the influences of the rotational speed, the different load pressures, and the rolling friction coefficient between the cone roller and the guiding rail are considered and discussed. By building a test rig, a series of experiments were carried out to prove that the mechanical efficiency was accurately predicted by this model at low load pressures. However, there was an increasing difference between the test results and the analytical outcomes at high pressures. Nevertheless, it is still reasonable to conclude that the rolling friction coefficient changes as the load pressure increases, which leads to a major decrease in the mechanical efficiency in experiments.



1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irving Fruchtman

The theoretical analysis, design, and experimental study of a high-speed combustion chamber are described. Such a burner may be used when the compressor outflow speed is so high that diffusion to the usual burner entrance conditions presents severe loss penalties. The study showed for a small mass flow-high pressure ratio turbomachine, that combined diffusor and combustor losses are minimum for a burner entrance Mach number of about 0.5. To design the burner a finite rate chemistry and turbulent mixing computer program was used; the combustor modeling and flame spread predictions are discussed. A series of experiments are described and burner pressure loss and temperature profiles are shown over a range of burner air-flow conditions.



2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (43) ◽  
pp. eabb2890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémi Pannequin ◽  
Mélanie Jouaiti ◽  
Mohamed Boutayeb ◽  
Philippe Lucas ◽  
Dominique Martinez

Flying insects have evolved to develop efficient strategies to navigate in natural environments. Yet, studying them experimentally is difficult because of their small size and high speed of motion. Consequently, previous studies were limited to tethered flights, hovering flights, or restricted flights within confined laboratory chambers. Here, we report the development of a cable-driven parallel robot, named lab-on-cables, for tracking and interacting with a free-flying insect. In this approach, cameras are mounted on cables, so as to move automatically with the insect. We designed a reactive controller that minimizes the online tracking error between the position of the flying insect, provided by an embedded stereo-vision system, and the position of the moving lab, computed from the cable lengths. We validated the lab-on-cables with Agrotis ipsilon moths (ca. 2 centimeters long) flying freely up to 3 meters per second. We further demonstrated, using prerecorded trajectories, the possibility to track other insects such as fruit flies or mosquitoes. The lab-on-cables is relevant to free-flight studies and may be used in combination with stimulus delivery to assess sensory modulation of flight behavior (e.g., pheromone-controlled anemotaxis in moths).



Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Hirotaka Nakashima ◽  
Gen Horiuchi ◽  
Shinji Sakurai

This study aimed to determine the minimum required initial velocity to hit a fly ball toward the same field (left-field for right-handed batters), center field, and opposite field (right field for right-handed batters). Six baseball players hit fastballs launched by a pitching machine. The movements of the balls before and after bat-to-ball impact were recorded using two high-speed video cameras. The flight distance was determined using a measuring tape. Seventy-nine trials were analyzed, and the minimum required initial velocities of batted balls were quantified to hit balls 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 m in each direction through regression analysis. As a result, to hit a ball 120 m, initial velocities of 43.0, 43.9, and 46.0 m/s were required for the same field, center field, and opposite field, respectively. The result provides a useful index for batters to hit a fly ball in each of the directions.



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