title: Controlling roll perturbations in fruit flies.
abstract: Owing to aerodynamic instabilities, stable flapping flight requires ever-present fast corrective actions. Here, we investigate how flies control perturbations along their body roll angle, which is unstable and their most sensitive degree of freedom. We glue a magnet to each fly and apply a short magnetic pulse that rolls it in mid-air. Fast video shows flies correct perturbations up to 100° within 30 ± 7 ms by applying a stroke-amplitude asymmetry that is well described by a linear proportional-integral controller. For more aggressive perturbations, we show evidence for nonlinear and hierarchical control mechanisms. Flies respond to roll perturbations within 5 ms, making this correction reflex one of the fastest in the animal kingdom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA tsevi.beatus@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Tsevi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beatus
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guckenheimer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Itai
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014741:Video Recording; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: biolocomotion; flight control; fruit fly; insect flight