The National Geographic has touted that praying mantises are excellent hunters, as they have the ability to turn their heads up to 180 degrees in order to check out their surroundings, thanks to a couple of rather huge compound eyes and a trio of other simple eyes that are positioned between them. They key would be how they process 3D vision, which is very different from us humans, and unlocking that key can result in far more simple algorithms for programming 3D vision into robots.
In the process, the researchers have relied on beeswax to attach the world’s smallest pair of 3D glasses to the mantises, before the insects are specially located in front of computer-produced images and presented on computer screens.