Tethered Fly repository for ME 556 final project.

This project simulates the kinematics of a tethered, yaw-free Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) aligning itself with a visual simulus. In many fruit fly experiments, it is common to restrict the fly to a single degree of freedom: yaw, i.e. side-to-side, angular movement. The fly can be baited into rotating by flashing a light on a display within the fly's visual range. In this implementation, you can choose which direction the desired angle is.

1. Clone the repository or download and extract the zip file under the "Code" tab

2. Open tethered_fly.mlx in MATLAB

3. Optional: Use the "Hide Code" view option to get an uncluttered view of the controls and plots

4. Run the Initialization section. This can either be done by

   • Selecting Live Editor > Run > Run
   • Selecting Live Editor > Section > Run Section
   • Using the slider bars to select a starting position and/or a desired position

5. Tune the sliders to change the parameters of each simulation. The plots will automatically update

6. Optional: Run the Save Data section. This will save the data displayed in both simulations. By default, the PD controller is saved as PDTrajectory.csv and the LQR is saved as OptimalTrajectory.csv

• The program does not prevent you from creating a situation where the desired position is outside of the fly's field of view

• The implementation of Elzinga's control model (see generateDynamics.m) models sensor delays as a first-order Pade approximation and that one wingbeat = 5 milliseconds

• The program does not prevent you creating a control policy that corresponds to unrealistical wing asymmetry angles that either break the physics model or are beyond the fly's physical limit. This is simple enough to control for the LQR simulation: just increase the $R$ parameter so that the maximum control corresponds to a physically valid condition

• Current version has yet to be validated against videography of real flies