MIT Researchers Develop Autonomous Indoor Robocopter

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at MIT's Robust Robotics Group have developed a robotic helicopter capable of autonomously flying inside buildings or other GPS-denied environments. It has an on-board camera and a laser scanner that maps the local environment. The video talks about search-and-rescue and civil engineering applications, but it also brings somewhat scary reminders of Minority Report to my head. How long till I see one of these chasing me down a dark alley? The team's website has more videos showing earlier stages of the project."

Comments

Re:I'd give it a year

[sopssa]

I knew the

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that is tattooed on my ass would come handy.

Re:Dark alley

[SEWilco]

Did you RTFA? The navigation problem was greatly simplified by sharpening the blades, eliminating the need to go around walls.