Mantis shrimp eye inspires camera that senses colour and polarisation

The bioinspired imager can potentially improve early cancer detection and help provide a new understanding of underwater phenomena, said researchers from the University of Illinois.

"The animal kingdom is full of creatures with much more sensitive and sophisticated eyes than our own," said Viktor Gruev , a University of Illinois professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-author of the new study. "These animals perceive natural phenomena that are invisible to humans.

"Polarisation of light - that is, the direction of oscillation of light as it propagates in space - is one such example. While most of us are familiar with polarised sunglasses, which simply remove glare, many animals use polarized vision as a covert communication channel, to find food, or even to navigate by sensing polarisation patterns in the sky."

The mantis shrimp is said to possess one of the most sophisticated eyes in nature. Compared with human vision, which has three different types of colour receptors, the mantis shrimp has 16 different plus six polarisation channels, Gruev said.