Summary: Song et al. (2013)

Eyes are incredible light-sensing organs and understanding how these organs functions facilitates the development of cameras with similar engineering principles. The arthropods (which includes the insects) show a sophisticated class of eye system. The field of view is wide-angled, with low aberrations. There is high motion acuity and an infinite depth of field. Currently, planar sensor technologies and conventional optics are insufficient for designing cameras with the similar hemispherical, compound apposition layouts characteristic of the arthropod eye. Song et al. (2013) designed a camera inspired by the arthropod eye, with nearly full hemispherical shapes (160 degrees) and present the materials, mechanics and integration schemes. The camera surface replicates the ommatidia of the arthropod eye, being densely populated by approximately 180 imaging elements, comparable to the eyes of fire ants (Solenopsis fugax) and bark beetles (Hylastes nigrinus). They suggest that their general strategies in the design and mechanics of this camera are applicable to other compound eye devices, such as those inspired by other insects (refracting and neural superposition eyes) and crustaceans (reflecting superposition eyes).