A new discovery of how bees use their flight movements to facilitate remarkably accurate learning and recognition of complex visual patterns could mark a major change in how next-generation AI is developed, according to a University of Sheffield study.
This discovery could revolutionize AI and robotics, suggesting that future robots can be smarter and more efficient by using movement to gather relevant information, rather than relying on huge computer networks
The study highlights a big idea: intelligence comes from how brains, bodies and the environment work together. It demonstrates how even tiny insect brains can solve complex visual tasks using very few brain cells, which has major implications for both biology and AI
iversity of Sheffield built a digital model of a bee's brain that explains how these movements create clear, efficient brain signals, allowing bees to easily understand what they see
A new discovery of how bees use their flight movements to facilitate remarkably accurate learning and recognition of complex visual patterns could mark a major change in how next-generation AI is developed, according to a University of Sheffield study.
By building a computational model -- or a digital version of a bee's brain -- researchers have discovered how the way bees move their bodies during flight helps shape visual input and generates unique electrical messages in their brains. These movements generate neural signals that allow bees to easily and efficiently identify predictable features of the world around them. This ability means bees demonstrate remarkable accuracy in learning and recognizing complex visual patterns during flight, such as those found in a flower.
The model not only deepens our understanding of how bees learn and recognize complex patterns through their movements, but also paves the way for next-generation AI. It demonstrates that future robots can be smarter and more efficient by using movement to gather information, rather than relying on massive computing power.
Professor James Marshall, Director of the Centre of Machine Intelligence at the University of Sheffield and senior author on the study, said:"In this study we've successfully demonstrated that even the tiniest of brains can leverage movement to perceive and understand the world around them. This shows us that a small, efficient system -- albeit the result of millions of years of evolution -- can perform computations vastly more complex than we previously thought possible.
"Harnessing nature's best designs for intelligence opens the door for the next generation of AI, driving advancements in robotics, self-driving vehicles and real-world learning."
The study, a collaboration with Queen Mary University of London, is published recently in the journal eLife. It builds on the team's previous research into how bees use active vision -- the process where their movements help them collect and process visual information. While their earlier work observed how bees fly around and inspect specific patterns, this new study provides a deeper understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms driving that behavior.
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