Bee-inspired navigation chips could enable tiny robot swarms

Researchers across Europe are developing a computer chip inspired by bees’ natural navigation abilities, which allow them to find their way without satellites or digital maps by sensing sky polarization and their own movement. Coordinated by Anders Mikkelsen at Lund University, the EU-funded InsectNeuroNano project aims to replicate this efficient biological system in a tiny, energy-saving chip. Unlike conventional navigation chips that are bulky and power-hungry, the new chip is designed for a single task—determining position from light and movement data—using a hard-wired approach that mimics insect brain processing to maximize efficiency and minimize size and power consumption. The interdisciplinary collaboration between biologists and engineers, including Professor Elisabetta Chicca from the University of Groningen, leverages biological insights to inform chip design while using chip models to test theories about insect brain function. Although the project is still in early prototype stages and real-world applications are several years away, the team envisions enabling swarms of tiny, insect-sized robots capable