Hummingbird in Slow Motion

Hummingbirds flap their wings about 50 times per second, so all we ever see is a blur around them as they zip around the yard. The folks from National Geographic mounted a high-speed camera on a hummingbird feeder to get some incredible footage of the tiny birds. Not only do we get to see them flap their wings, but also slip their tongues into the nectar up close!

(YouTube link)

The bird feeder is enclosed in what looks like a wind tunnel, so the photographers can create and control conditions such as wind and rain. Keep watching, and you'll see a hummingbird bird shake the drops of water off its feathers. Watch those feathers shimmer in the light! -via Laughing Squid

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The utterly fascinating thing is how stable the hummingbird's head is as it drink. Watching the body gyrate and shift just slightly and the head remains completely stable. Very cool.

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The robot uses cameras to view the ball. At the 30 sec mark you can see that the robot has a visual tracking system, as it is tracking the ball before it is dropped on the paddle. If you view the additional video that is on the channel for the user, you will see the breakdown of how the robot tracks the ball. It would be cool if it was doing this on estimation though, but it, sadly, is not.