Roboticists at the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP are able to get as many as 20 of their autonomous microcopters to fly in formation and perform complex maneuvers flawlessly.
In an impressive new video, the GRASP — General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception — team makes their swarm of flying microbots flip, change direction, navigate through obstacles and even fly figure-eights with jaw-dropping agility and precision.
GRASP has since 2010 made remarkable advancements in the capabilities of their tiny quadrotors, developed by Kmel Robotics, and documented them with a series of videos showing bots flying hoops and building a tower-like structure. The lab is developing the ability to fly autonomously in formation, communicating with each other to maintain position. Last year the team demonstrated a basic formation flight with a lost-communication demonstration where one of the aircraft drops out on its own.
There is still plenty of human input as the tiny UAVs are programmed to fly various tasks. No Skynet yet. Such machines could be used for surveillance or search-and-rescue missions. They’re also just plain cool to watch.
As we wait for the next trick, we hope becoming self aware is indeed just science fiction.
They are cute until you have one following you with a microphone and video doing surveillance on you.
I am personally more interested in detection and neutralization protocols for the models that will eventually come based on this design.
I'm here to tell you, they didn't spend the research funds on this just to make a cool toy.
Remember, the first military aeroplanes the military used in WW I were sent up to do surveillance and the antagonists waved to each other at first.
Then came the arming of the aircraft and dogfights. Then General Jimmy Doolittle became the first to show a myopic and unbelieving navy brass a demonstration of the power of the airplane to destroy ships.
Now, aircraft carriers are the epically most powerful ship on the planet.
never underestimate what these things can develop into, and how it can warp and bedevil your existence.
