The footage sent to the smartphone is at a resolution of 160 by 120 pixels.
According to Gollakota, capturing footage while beetles move has a power-saving advantage over insect-like robots or drones.
That mobility really drains the battery a lot, he says.
By combining these two different things living animals with sensors youre basically getting the best of both worlds.
By doing this, the camera could be operated for six hours on a full charge.
We added a small accelerometer to our system to be able to detect when the beetle moves.
Then it only captures images during that time, said Iyer.
With the accelerometer, we could record for six hours or more, depending on the beetles activity level.
They were able to navigate freely across gravel, up a slope and even climb trees.
The beetles also lived for at least a year after the experiment ended.
The teampublishedthe results of the research in Scientific Robotics journal on July 15.
source: www.techworm.net
