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U. Penn Super Quadcopter Learns New Tricks

Posted by timothy on from the hit-squads-want-these dept.

Freddybear writes "University of Pennsylvania's GRASP lab posted new video of their scary fast maneuverable quad-rotor drone. It can now fly through openings (hoops) which are themselves moving." The entire list of GRASP projects is worth crawling through.

10 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Killing me in my sleep? by 5pp000 · · Score: 1, Informative

    I don't think so. That sucker is NOISY.

    Cool aerobatics though.

    --
    Your god may be dead, but mine aren't!
    1. Re:Killing me in my sleep? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Informative

      Also: did you see what it needs for navigation? Bright red lights as landmarks, brightly colored hoops.

      It would need much more sophisticated navigation in order to operate outside its little custom-made "cage".

    2. Re:Killing me in my sleep? by Sulphur · · Score: 2, Informative

      Can't wait for a version with two swiveling turbines at the tips of small wing, eh?

      Something similar was : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiller_Hornet

    3. Re:Killing me in my sleep? by rcamans · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, it does not need to be a killer. With a camera, gps, and a targeting laser, it can zoom in, acquire a target, zoom up out of range, and let a remote site fire a missile up to kill targeted item.

      Scary.

      --
      wake up and hold your nose
  2. While impressive by oneofthose · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think it is important to note that they use fairly sophisticated (multiple times more expensive than the drone itself) motion capture equipment to locate and control the drone.

  3. No reason it can't be fully mobile by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative

    Very nice. For research purposes, they're using a cheap copter and expensive fixed motion tracking gear. That saves money during debugging crashes. It doesn't have to be that way. With a slightly bigger copter they could carry around 3 axes of fibre-optic gyro, good accelerometers, and a good dynamic GPS. Expect to see that soon, with DoD funding.

    Robots are going to have faster reflexes than humans. Humans are stuck at 200ms or so, while computers get faster.

  4. Re:Nothing new to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    no it isnt. the source code is proprietary. only the SDK is available and it is highly crippled. please show me how you can EASILY make this work with anything. idiot.

  5. Re:Nothing new to see here by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Informative
    Yes, I have seen the AR Drone videos. I saw the originals the first day they were released. As for ketchup, I won't be needing it. And have you by any chance seen some of the other replies? I don't know why they were meta-modded down, since they're in fact knowledgeable answers.

    "no it isnt. the source code is proprietary. only the SDK is available and it is highly crippled. please show me how you can EASILY make this work with anything. idiot."

    And so it is. The page you linked me to clearly states that it is an SDK, not source code.

    Uh, he is safe for the time being seeing as you need a $500k VICON system to pull off the sorts of maneuvers the quad rotors are pulling off in the video. You seriously think this is controlled solely by on board cameras or even one external camera? Why do you think in all these videos you see these glaring red lights? They are the locational cameras (GRASP Lab has 16 I think) identifying where in space the quad rotor is and it's orientation. There is a huge external computation component that you don't see doing most of the heavy lifting required to control this quad rotor.

    I'm fairly certain this can't be replicated by a quad rotor with merely an iPhone. That's kinda laughable.

    I repeat: if you can maneuver a Parrot AR Drone with your iPhone anywhere near the way this thing can move, I'll eat your shorts. (I think it's obvious that would include flying through both stationary and moving hoops of comparable size.)

    And I repeat: "I am pretty sure that my digestion is safe for the time being."

    Don't misunderstand: I think the AR Drone is very cool in its own way. It's a great toy. And it might even be useful for a few semi-practical things. But comparable to the device in the video OP linked to? Not.

  6. Re:Navigation by stms · · Score: 2, Informative

    Happy talk like a pirate day!

  7. Re:Nothing new to see here by Khyber · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those modding me down.

    Eat your already-outdated quadcopter.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvH2f-AewX8&feature=related

    with built-in GPS location services, auto-stabilization, call-home function, can carry a camera, and can likely carry a micro-radar for autonomous navigation.

    Keep on dreaming while I've got investments in this stuff.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.