A micro-sized visual sensor based on the fly's compound eye with a scanning retina

Abstract

This study presents comparative results of the design, fabrication and preliminary performance of two biomorphic visual sensors that are endowed with a scanning retina. The design of the visual sensors is inspired by the structure of the fly's compound eye that possesses a unique muscle+tendon actuation system for its scanning retina. We address the fabrication issues of visual sensors through the construction of a large scale prototype at the millimeter-scale whose performance is then compared to the one of a MEMS-fabricated prototype at the micro-scale. The motivation for the design of a small sized artificial visual sensor springs from the need to create more reliable, efficient and integrated smart visual sensors for robotic applications in particular for the autonomous visually-guided navigation of mobile robots.