Flying robots suggest bees can’t rely on instinct to land on flowers

By David Hambling

Honeybees move quickly from flower to flower, landing easily on each one in turn – but a study involving small drones suggests the undertaking is more difficult than it looks, implying the bees rely on learning as well as hard-wired instinct.

Bees and other insects judge movement using what is called “optical flow” – basically the rate at which things are moving through the field of view.

Optical flow is useful during landing too, particularly to help the bee decelerate. This is because the nearer an …