AI Creates Realistic Virtual Fruit Fly by Watching Hours of Insect Videos
• Researchers created a realistic virtual fruit fly that moves like the real thing by feeding AI hours of video of insects walking, flying, and grooming.
• The AI fly has over 100 degrees of freedom, allowing it to manipulate its body in complex ways that match real fruit fly movements.
• The virtual fly can perform behaviors like walking and flying without explicit programming, just by watching videos of living flies.
• Studying the AI fly could help scientists understand how genetics and neurons affect fruit fly behavior in precise, quantitative ways.
• The simulation technique shows promise for generating realistic animal movements that could be used for robots and other applications.