The remarkable thing about this experiment is that the fly actually controls the pattern of lights as it changes the frequency of it's wing beats. For some reason they prefer to fly towards vertical lines. What's unique here is that the device allows researchers to get inside the loop connecting the flies eyes, it's stabilising gyroscope, and wing mechanism. Once the robot is flying stably, it will have to work out where it needs to go. To solve the mystery of how flies locate a target, Michael's team has developed another ingenious experiment.
Stereo cameras track the fly's movement in three dimensions.
The strategy clearly works - fruit flies have no trouble finding a rotten banana. Although it'll be a while before an artificial insect is able to do anything as useful. But by 2002, the first generation of robotic flies could be hovering in the still air of a laboratory-if all goes well. If we solved the power problems, if we solve the structure problems, solve the control problems. It looks feasible.