Social insects, such as ants, termites, and honeybees, have evolved sophisticated societies where the collaborative efforts of "simple" individuals can lead to the emergence of complex dynamics. The reliance of each organism on the collective is so great t ...
Insects are frequently infected by bacterial symbionts that greatly affect their physiology and ecology. Most of these endosymbionts are, however, barely tractable outside their native host, rendering functional genetics studies difficult or impossible. Sp ...
Using organic insecticides including plant oils, it is possible to design a new perspective for the control of insect pests. In this research, nanoemulsion formulations of Mentha piperita, wild-type essential oil (EO) were prepared utilizing high-energy ul ...
Flying robots are increasingly used for tasks such as aerial mapping, fast exploration, video footage and monitoring of buildings.
Autonomous flight at low altitude in cluttered and unknown environments is an active research topic because it poses challen ...
The efficiency of social insect colonies critically depends on their ability to efficiently allocate workers to the various tasks which need to be performed. While numerous models have investigated the mechanisms allowing an efficient colony response to ex ...
In the past years, it has been observed that some compounds present in our environment can disturb the reproduction and development of animals like fishes, birds, or reptiles by interfering with their endocrine system. Indeed, these endocrine disrupting co ...
There are not yet autonomous flying robots capable of manoeuvring in small cluttered environments as insects do. Encouraged by this observation, this thesis presents the development of ultra-light flying robots and control systems going one step toward ful ...