This research, which began as a SOURCE-sponsered summer project, turned into the focus of my senior project at Case. The project was a conglomeration of fluid mechanics, biology, statistics, and robotics aimed at better understanding how moths track odors.

For this I designed and automated an experiment that measured characteristics of the ion plume that RoboMoth tracked in the Biorobotics Lab’s RoboMoth wind tunnel (analogous to the odor plumes that actual moths were tracking in the biology department’s identical tunnel). Understanding the structure of the plume helps researchers correlate the tracking behavior seen in moths with what they may be sensing.

More information
• Case Engineering Magazine article (PDF, see p. 14-5)
• Final Project Report (PDF)
• Final Project Presentation (PDF)
• SOURCE Poster 2006 (PDF)