Reno, Nevada, United States
Our lab studies insects for inspiration in designing robust and novel control systems for robots. Our lab uses real-time tracking, high speed video, optogenetics, and virtual reality to study freely moving animals. Then, aided by modern machine learning tools and control theory, we analyze the behavior, and implement the principles on robotic systems. Along the way, we use genetic tools available in the fruit fly to gain insight into how brains function.
Our lab studies insects for inspiration in designing robust and novel control systems for robots. Our lab uses real-time tracking, high speed video, and virtual reality to study freely moving animals. Then, aided by modern machine learning tools and control theory, we analyze the behavior, and implement the principles on robotic systems. Along the way, we use genetic tools available in the fruit fly to gain insight into how brains function.
I use machine vision and machine learning to automatically track the behavior of individual insects searching for food in patchy landscapes in order to better understand the neuroscience behind search behavior, and inspire novel algorithms for optimal search with unreliable and intermittent cues.
In the lab I study how mosquitoes and fruit flies use different sensory modalities to locate humans, and our fermented beverages. In the field I study the surface properties and behavior of Ephydridae flies, and long distance migration of D. melanogaster.
I used a multi-camera 3D tracking system and high throughput data analysis to study how mosquitoes use odor, vision, and heat, to track down humans.