Meeting 1153 Minutes

Minutes from the 1153rd Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

Vice President Jack Boyle called the 1153rd meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:40 pm on Tuesday, November 8th in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford St. Approximately 29 members and guests were in attendance.

Old business :
Lenzie Cheaney
Chris Desjardins
Grace Yuen
Laura D’Asaro
Were approved for membership

Andrew Mountcastle and Sawyer Fuller presented a talk entitled Engineering and Reverse-Engineering Insect Flight.

Drs. Mountcastle and Fuller described their work analyzing insect flight and applying insights gained from this analysis to building micro air vehicles. Andrew Mountcastle discussed insect wing form and function. Insect wings bend and twist in ways that are adaptive for a variety of functional demands. They enhance load-lifting and aerodynamic force production in bumblebees, and help mitigate collision damage in the wings of wasps and bumblebees.
Sawyer Fuller discussed how insects use their eyes to sense their motion and control flight, and how to build robots inspired by their control strategies. The Robobee, an insect-sized flapping-wing flying vehicle the size of a bumblebee, is one product of these investigations. He also mentioned the importance of feedback control in maintaining flight. This research approach is what Sawyer calls “cyclic biological robotics” – studying biology for robotic inspiration, using this robotics to bring up refined questions for biology, and repeating.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 for discussion and refreshments.

Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary