Abstract: With the advantages of small volume, light weight, large field-of-view, high sensitivity and measuring speed, the artificial optical compound eye has broad application prospects in both advanced equipment of national defense and civilian industries and has attracted more and more attention. The characteristic of insects’ compound eye is analyzed briefly and the structure, function and classification of compound eye are concluded; the new progress in both design and manufacture of artificial optical compound eye is discussed in detail; the disadvantage in design using the optical micro lens array and the deficiency in manufacture process, such as the special processing , are made clear through comprehensive analysis and discussion of the imaging test results of the artificial optical compound eye. The merits of designing optical compound eye by using cross-section hexagon higher-order curved surface and the advantage of manufacture by using ultra-precision machining technology are discussed. A new idea of modeling and processing of the curved surface is given in order to provide a useful reference for further study.

Key words: Artificial optical compound eye, Large field-of-view, Micro-lens array, Ultra-precision machining technology