Roll Control in Fruit Flies

TL;DR

This study investigates how fruit flies rapidly correct body roll perturbations during flight, revealing a linear PI control mechanism that enables one of the fastest reflexes in animals.

Contribution

It demonstrates that flies use a linear PI controller to achieve quick and effective roll correction during flight perturbations.

Findings

Flies correct up to 100° roll within ~30 ms.

The response latency is approximately 5 ms.

Roll correction is governed by a linear PI controller.

Abstract

Due to aerodynamic instabilities, stabilizing flapping flight requires ever-present fast corrective actions. Here we investigate how flies control body roll angle, their most susceptible degree of freedom. We glue a magnet to each fly, apply a short magnetic pulse that rolls it in mid-air, and film the corrective maneuver. Flies correct perturbations of up to $100^{\circ}$ within $30\pm7\mathrm{ms}$ by applying a stroke-amplitude asymmetry that is well described by a linear PI controller. The response latency is $\sim5\mathrm{ms}$, making the roll correction reflex one of the fastest in the animal kingdom.