Simple organisms like bacteria are directly influenced by momentary changes in concentration or strength of sensory signals. In noisy sensory gradi- ents frequent zigzagging reduces the performance of the cell or organism. Drosophila melanogaster flies significantly deviate from a direct response to sensory input when orienting in gradients. A dynamical model has been derived which reproduces fly behaviour. Here we report on an emergent property of the model. Implemented in a robot, the algorithm is sustaining decisions between visual targets. The behaviour was consequently found in wild-type flies, which stay with a once-chosen visual target for considerable longer times than mutant flies with a specific brain defect. This allowed the localisation of the integrator. Flies were tested in a virtual-reality arena with two alternatingly visible target objects under different visibility regimes. The finding exemplifies how basic re- search and technical application can mutually benefit from close collaboration.
['Roland Strauss', 'Stefanie Flethe', 'José A. Villacorta', 'Valeri A. Makarov', 'Manuel G. Velarde', 'Luca Patané', 'Paolo Arena']
Roving Robots Gain from an Orientation Algorithm of Fruit Flies and Predict a Fly Decision-Making Algorithm