Cricket-hair sensor used in bio-inspired technology
Monday, March 11, 2013 - 11:32
in Physics & Chemistry
Crickets use sensitive hairs on their cerci (projections on the abdomen) to detect predators. For these insects, air currents carry information about the location of nearby predators and the direction in which they are moving. Researchers wondered whether they could use the same principle to create a new kind of “camera”, capable of imaging entire flow patterns rather than measuring flows at a single point. They mimic the cricket hairs using microtechnology.