Wednesday, October 18, 2006: Australian-Indian Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan has been awarded the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for his unique research that has revealed the working of a bee’s mind, and helped redefine robotics research.

An automatic landing system for an aircraft is expensive and complex. It is just one of the many systems that would be required to make a truly robotic aircraft. But a bee can take off, find targets, fly through tunnels, navigate home, and land without any of that complexity. It uses a minute brain of about a million nerve cells, which is the size of a sesame seed, and weighs just a tenth of a milligram.

Dr Srinivasan has dedicated his research career to understanding just how bees work. What started 23 years ago as basic research with no apparent application, is now followed closely by robotics experts around the world, and routinely receives NASA and US military grants.

I feel thrilled and humbled. I am also very delighted that Australia recognises the benefits of basic research. It is basic research that is the real driver and leads to practical applications in the end. It’s very important that basic research stays healthy, Dr Srinivasan told this correspondent on receiving the award, which includes a $300,000 grant.

He first gained a Masters in Electrical Engineering in is home town of Bangalore, before turning his attention to exploring the links between human vision and engineering. After a PhD at Yale University and work at the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Zurich, Dr Srinivasan returned to ANU in 1985 to join a major project on an exploration into how insects perceive the three-dimensional world and manoeuvre in it.

It was then that he started a series of experiments with bees that combine biology and engineering. His findings are informing robotics research around the world. One of his current projects looks at angry bees. When their hive is threatened, bees rush out and immediately attack any moving object in range. The US Air Force is interested in this capability.

Today we are trying to create small conventional aircraft with the brains of a bee. The future challenge is to bring in the engineering of a bee micro flyers that can do what bees do, Dr Srinivasan added.

His team’s projects include: a robot that can steer through cluttered environments, supported by Fujitsu; a camera that can give panoramic, insect-like vision to robots and surveillance cameras; an autonomous navigation system for helicopters, with help from the US Defence Advanced Projects Agency; and a design for ‘micro flyers’ for NASA.

But the celebrated scientist is most excited about the potential to learn about emotion and cognition from bees. He said, I’ve seen bees show frustration, anger, even joy. I’m planning a series of experiments that will determine if they really can experience emotion.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1059121