Complete Fruit Fly Brain Connectome Flies Drones with Zero Flight Code
A developer used the fully reconstructed and publicly released fruit fly brain connectome to build a real-time computational model that flies multiple drones without writing any flight code. It is among the first demonstrations of a complete connectome going from research data to real-time robotic control, notable because a "biological brain wiring diagram" can directly serve as a runnable controller.
Confirmed
- HHMI Janelia, Cambridge MRC LMB and Google released MaleCNS v1.0 in early September: a complete wiring diagram of the adult male fruit fly nervous system with 166,700 neurons and 25 million connections, fully open data.
- Within weeks of release, developers wired the connectome into robots and drones.
- In the drone demo, a single camera aimed at a palm (simulating a fly eye) is the only input; neural firing is converted directly into throttle — open palm to rise, fist to hover, palm removed to descend.
- One developer copied the model three times onto three drones with no flight code, PID tuning, preprogrammed moves or obstacle-avoidance rules; in the demo one hovered and another flew around a chair.
Why it matters
- This is a fast-moving application of the fly whole-brain connectome, showing its potential as a directly runnable control system rather than mere anatomical data.
- Fully open data lowers the barrier to replication; @eyishazyer notes the community has already spawned robots, drones and other experiments within weeks, potentially encouraging more bio-brain-driven hardware work.
2026-09-14 ~ 2026-09-16 · 5 related posts
- Episode 1: AI Helps Map Complete Fruit Fly Connectome: 166,000+ Neurons, Largest Yet(2026-09-04, 12 posts)
- Episode 2: Full Fruit-Fly Connectome Runs in Minecraft, Driving an In-Game Fly(2026-09-05, 9 posts)
- Episode 3: Google Maps Entire Fruit Fly Brain with 166,000 Neurons(2026-09-06, 4 posts)
- Episode 4: Full Fruit Fly Connectome with 166,700 Neurons Runs Inside Minecraft(2026-09-08, 3 posts)
- Episode 5: Fly Brain Connectome Simulation Plays Beat Saber in Real Time(2026-09-09, 5 posts)
- Episode 6: Google and HHMI Release Complete Male Fruit Fly Brain Connectome(2026-09-09, 7 posts)
- Episode 7: Viral 'Fly Brain Plays Beat Saber' Turns Out to Be Overfit Replay(2026-09-10, 3 posts)
- Episode 8: Fruit Fly Connectome Experiments Raise Consciousness Ethics Concerns(2026-09-11, 3 posts)
- Episode 9: Fly Brain Connectome Mapped — and Made to Play Smash Bros(2026-09-11, 2 posts)
- Episode 10: Google Maps Complete Male Fruit Fly Brain Connectome(2026-09-13, 4 posts)
- Episode 11: Fruit fly brain connectome wired into walking Strandbeest robot(2026-09-13, 3 posts)
- Episode 12: Complete Fruit Fly Brain Connectome Flies Drones with Zero Flight Code(2026-09-14, 5 posts)
- Episode 13: Google and partners release complete adult fruit fly brain connectome(2026-09-15, 3 posts)
- Episode 14: Fruit Fly Brain Uploaded to Robot Drives Autonomous Behavior(2026-09-19, 2 posts)
Primary sources
- [source] Fly brain connectome with 166,700 neurons already powering robots, drones and AR demos — eyishazyer · 2026-09-14
- Full fruit fly brain map, 166,700 neurons, flies a drone in real time — anselm · 2026-09-15
- [source] A drone flies on 166,700 fruit fly neurons — 25M connections, one camera — Scobleizer · 2026-09-15
2 near-duplicate retellings: TinfoilTricorn · GregCook2011