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Sheffield academics believe the speed of flies could help robot technology [Getty Images]<\/p>\n
The “lightning fast” reactions of fruit flies and other insects could “revolutionise” artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as self-driving cars, according to experts.<\/p>\n
Academics at the University of Sheffield who studied flies’ brains and eyes have discovered a “turbo boost” feature, known as high-frequency jumping, which allows insects to react with remarkable speed and precision.<\/p>\n
The mechanism could make robots and self-driving cars smarter and more energy efficient by using movement to gather information instead of relying on computers.<\/p>\n
Prof Mikko Juusola of the School of Biosciences said: “Our findings reveal a fundamentally new way of thinking about how brains compute information.”<\/p>\n
The University of Sheffield research shows that house flies and fruit flies do not process visual information passively, as previously believed.<\/p>\n
Rather than simply watching the world, insects twitch their bodies in sync with what they see.<\/p>\n
Experts say these tiny, jerky movements, such as rapid movements of the eyes called saccades, help their brains receive clearer, faster information about the world around them.<\/p>\n
‘Extraordinary speeds’<\/p>\n
The study, published in Nature Communications, found that when an insect makes a sharp turn, its brain “jumps” into a higher gear, said Juusola, which allows it to focus on the most important, fast-moving information.<\/p>\n
This mechanism enables insects to overcome physical and neural constraints that would otherwise limit their perception and supports behaviours such as high-speed flight and predator avoidance.<\/p>\n
Juusola, who is the senior author of the study, said: “We’ve demonstrated how even the smallest brains can solve complex problems at extraordinary speeds.”<\/p>\n
Future AI systems – particularly those used in robotics, autonomous vehicles and real-time decision-making – could be revolutionised by adopting similar principles of movement-driven, adaptive information processing, said Dr Jouni Takalo.<\/p>\n
Takalo, who led the development of the biophysically realistic statistical model underlying the work, said: “The findings challenge traditional models of neural processing, which assume that information flows through fixed pathways with built-in delays.<\/p>\n
“Instead, the results support a new framework where sight is a collective effort between an insect’s movement, its visual input and its brain’s response.”<\/p>\n
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds<\/a>, catch up with the latest episode of Look North<\/a><\/p>\n Related internet links<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sheffield academics believe the speed of flies could help robot technology [Getty Images] The “lightning fast” reactions of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[363,32635,27707,213343,16203,17567,111,139,69,213344,147,78134],"class_list":["post-414686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-brains","tag-fruit-flies","tag-house-flies","tag-insects","tag-nature-communications","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-remarkable-speed","tag-science","tag-university-of-sheffield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}