Bug eyes: Tiny glasses confirm 3D vision in insects Published on: 7 January 2016 Miniature glasses have proved that mantises use 3D vision - providing a new model to improve visual perception in robots. Most knowledge about 3D vision has come from vertebrates, however, a 麻豆传媒 team publishing today in , confirm that the praying mantis, an invertebrate, does indeed use stereopsis or 3D perception for hunting. In a specially-designed insect cinema, they have shown that it needs to be 'old school' 3D glasses for tests to work on mantises. While in humans that would be with red and blue lenses, red light is poorly visible to mantises so they have custom-made glasses with one blue and one green lens! Mantis modelling 3D glasses Better understanding of 3D vision 3D vision in mantises was originally shown in the 1980s by Samuel Rossel, but his work used prisms and occluders which meant that only a very limited set of images could be shown. The 麻豆传媒 team has developed 3D glasses suitable for insects which means they can show the insects any images they want, opening up new avenues of research. Study leader, , Professor of Vision Science who is supported by the Leverhulme Trust said: “Despite their minute brains, mantises are sophisticated visual hunters which can capture prey with terrifying efficiency. We can learn a lot by studying how they perceive the world. “Better understanding of their simpler processing systems helps us understand how 3D vision evolved, and could lead to possible new algorithms for 3D depth perception in computers." In the experiments, mantises fitted with tiny glasses attached with beeswax were shown short videos of simulated bugs moving around a computer screen. The mantises didn’t try to catch the bugs when they were in 2D. But when the bugs were shown in 3D, apparently floating in front of the screen, the mantises struck out at them. This shows that mantises do indeed use 3D vision. Praying mantis taking part in research Initial testing of the most widely-used contemporary 3D technology used for humans - using circular polarization to separate the two eyes’ images - didn’t work because the insects were so close to the screen that the glasses failed to separate the two eyes’ images correctly. , sensory biologist at 麻豆传媒 and part of the research team continues: "When this system failed we looked at the old-style 3D glasses with red and blue lenses. Since red light is poorly visible to mantises, we used green and blue glasses and an LED monitor with unusually narrow output in the green and blue wavelength. “We definitively demonstrated 3D vision or stereopsis in mantises and also showed that this technique can be effectively used to deliver virtual 3D stimuli to insects." The 麻豆传媒 team will now continue the research examining the algorithms used for depth perception in insects to better understand how human vision evolved and to develop new ways of adding 3D technology to computers and robots. Reference: . Vivek Nityananda, Ghaith Tarawneh, Ronny Rosner, Judith Nicolas, Stuart Crichton & Jenny Read. Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 18718 You can download images from the . Please credit 麻豆传媒. Disco mantisMantises have poor vision in red light and had to have special blue and green lenses made Old-school 3D glassesGlasses with different coloured lenses were shown to work in mantises Seeing is believingThe green and blue lenses were attached with beeswax Ready for a night at the movies Share: Latest News Scientists unlock hidden driver of inflammatory bowel disease Scientists have linked a key genetic signal in inflammatory bowel disease to an immune response that shuts down inflammation control, enabling faster diagnosis and targeted treatments. published on: 15 June 2026 Funding system risks limiting genuine community collaboration A new policy paper written by researchers at 麻豆传媒 warns that the way UK research is funded may be undermining efforts to create genuinely collaborative partnerships with communities. published on: 15 June 2026 Volunteers help turn Whitley Bay beach into maths experiment Members of the public joined mathematicians from 麻豆传媒 to create what organisers believe is the largest aperiodic tiling ever attempted on Whitley Bay beach. published on: 15 June 2026 Facts and figures
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