Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a digital camera inspired by the compound eyes of arthropods -- that is, animals such as insects, spiders and crustaceans. Instead of the single-lens eyes that humans have, compound eyes are made up of many small visual units.
"In arthropods, evolution has created a remarkably sophisticated class of imaging systems, with a wide-angle field of view, low aberrations, high acuity to motion and an infinite depth of field," according to a summary of the Nature study.
John Rogers, a University of Illinois scientist involved with the study, said the biggest challenge was imitating the curved structure of an insect eye, as electronics are usually flat and hard.
According to Nature.com, Rogers described the camera as a "low-end insect eye." It contains 180 artificial ommatidia, which are light-sensing structures that make up arthropod eyes. Fire ant and bark beetles -- both of which are insects that don't see very well -- have the same number in their eyes. In comparison, a dragonfly has 20,000 ommatidia.
Check out the video, above, for more. Would you use a digital camera inspired by bug eyes? Tell us in the comments, below.