In Wed's lecture slide no.13, why does the block "Drag Aerodynamics" connected to the summation and to the vision system?

Q: In Wed's lecture slide no.13, why does the block "Drag Aerodynamics" connected to the summation and to the vision system?

A: The direction of arrows matters in a block diagram, which is the source of confusion here. The drag aerodynamics only feed into the summation; the body dynamics feed into the drag aerodynamics.

The drag aerodynamics go into the summation because they act as a disturbance that moves the fly around. This motion, in addition to the wing motion, determines where the fly is and affects the body dynamics. The body dynamics then feed back into the drag aerodynamics because the orientation of the fly can change how much drag it experiences (heading directly into the wind is pretty different from being broadside to it).

If you're interested in learning more about this system you should read the following paper: http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/papers/2003p_rei+03-acc.html

--Mary Dunlop 09:58, 5 October 2006 (PDT)