Rise of the robot bees A tethered honey bee, ready to participate in virtual reality experiments. Photo: University of Queensland Bees have long been renowned among the scientific world as some of the most efficient flying machines on Earth. Now, in what may seem a little science-fiction like, University of Queensland researchers have studied their flight patterns in virtual reality in a bid to develop insect-sized robots. "We are thinking this can be applied to robotics for very small flying robots," PhD student Gavin Taylor said. If we had small flying robots, potentially they could act as pollinators, because bees are in global decline but they could also be used for other things, such as in search and rescue flights. As part of the world-first Queensland Brain Institute study, Mr Taylor and other researchers tethered the bees in front of computer monitors and simulated flight conditions, to study how they adapt naturally to a range of differing conditions. They found they use a combination of what they feel and see to streamline their bodies and gain maximum "fuel efficiency" by positioning themselves for swift flight. "Honey bees often have to travel very long distances with only a small amount of nectar, so they have to be as fuel-efficient as possible," he said. They achieve this by raising their abdomen to reduce drag so they can fly at high speeds while using less energy. Mr Taylor said information gained from the study of bee flight could also potentially be used in the aeronautics. "For a variety of reasons they are very good navigators, so we are interested in how they make their way around the world," he said. They are also very good at flight control. Rarely any insect crashes in even complex environments, so that's why we are interested in insects in general.