Research
Our Motion Capture Studio has been used to track and analyse data from over 25,000 flights of birds to date. This is the largest dataset of its kind ever collected, allowing researchers to study the learning, optimisation, and control of complex flight behaviours in unprecedented detail.
A landmark paper in the journal Nature recorded over 1,500 flights from perching Harris' hawks, showing that they learn swooping flight trajectories that minimise the distance at which they stall away from the landing perch. Larger birds therefore prioritise control authority over energy minimisation or time minimisation during hazardous landing manoeuvres.
Other research, published in the journal Current Biology, has used our Motion Capture System to analyse how hawks avoid collisions with obstacles whilst chasing fast manoeuvring targets.
Hawks combine continuous target tracking with discontinuous obstacle avoidance, allowing them to remain locked on to their target --- even when making a one-off steering correction to avoid an upcoming obstacle.