A biologically inspired mechano-optical imaging system based in insect vision

Abstract

Nature has devised a number of imaging systems that allow animals to view their surroundings. Both the lens eye as as found in most vertebrates, and the pinhole eye found in nautilus, have been used as models for photographically reproducing visual information. Most invertebrates (e.g. bees and flies) image their world using compound eyes, and until recently the compound eye design has been largely ignored as an option for photographic imaging. In this study we investigate the principle of making photographs with a mechano-optical device which freely transmits all wavelengths of radiation and accurately simulates the frontal foveal region of a bee's vision where the ommatidia (facets) are approximately parallel