Moths Reveal Secrets to Hovering: Insects Employ Precise Control in Flight (Video)

Moths can fly through the air, moving across the nighttime sky as they hover and flutter. Yet in order to take to the skies, these insects have to employ precise movements that allow them to remain airborne. Now, researchers have filmed these movements, which may allow them to create robots that employ the same type of techniques.

The findings, which are published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, detailed how the moths could stay aloft by pivoting their abdomens up and down. This motion fine-tuned the effect of the forces that kept the insects airborne.

"They're larger insects, so they're in a more of a realistic range of flapping or flying [machines that we would be] able to put instrumentation on," said lead author Jonathan Dyhr from the University of Washington in an interview with BBC News. "A moth can really precisely control movements [and remain] in one place, because it's trying to feed from flowers."

In order to observe these precise movements and learn exactly how these moths hover in one place, the researchers put a moth into a tiny flight simulator. The insect was tethered inside an arena that simulated a turbulent environment around the moth that moved up and down. Using this method, the scientists made the insect perceive that it was tumbling forward or backward. The researchers then filmed the insect while it was in motion.

They found that when the moth was subjected to these motions, it adjusted its abdomen and wings accordingly. It pivoted its abdomen up and down, which helped balance the insect and adjusted the airflow to the insect's wings accordingly.

The new findings could allow researchers to better understand the process of flight in insects. In addition, the physics of this movement could be used when designing tiny, flying robots. Studying the insect's flight have allowed them to "distil the biological principles of flight control," according to BBC News.

Want to see the moth in action? Check it out on the video here.