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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. Re:Killing me in my sleep? by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It does make a distinct sound and sounds like that in a war-zone can have a terrifying effect, psychologically on enemy troops.

  2. So technically you're awake for a second by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sure it's noisy, but did you see how fast that thing moved? You'd be awake for about a second, max, before it was on you.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Re:Nothing new to see here by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "We've already got quadricopters. And you can control them with an iPhone. And they could already do this sort of maneuvering."

    (A) Yes we do. (B) So what? An iPhone is hardly an optimized flight controller. It's a toy. (C) No, they can't. If you can maneuver your quadricopter with your iPhone anywhere near the way this thing can move, I'll eat your shorts.

    I am pretty sure that my digestion is safe for the time being.

  4. Oblig Skynet by Dan+East · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Those little buggers are sure going to be hard to shoot down. Y'all better start skeet shooting right away if the human race is to have any chance!

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    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:Oblig Skynet by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

      No, no they won't be hard to shoot. Fight science....with SCIENCE!

  5. Good timing by Lije+Baley · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If I throw a hoop up at the right time, I can get a rubber-band to fly throught it.

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    Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
    1. Re:Good timing by arielCo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not clear from the narration how much of it was pre-programmed and I'm too lazy to go read the paper, but either the guy waited for the copter to accelerate and threw the hoop in sync (pretty unlikely), or the copter timed its flight to the extrapolated motion of its "window", which is the amazing feat advertised. Hell, even if the UPenn guys cheated, they managed to make the little recover and hover after being thrown like a majorette's baton, zigzag like a hummingbird on meth, zip through hoops, do triple somersaults, and perch on a wall like a fly (check it out if you haven't yet). Neat stuff.

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      This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
  6. Navigation by Iamthecheese · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Avast ye scurvy, this vessel has almost no use! With cameras on every angle she can't go anywhere but Davy Jone's locker without a human skipper. The autonomous flyin' about may look sweet as a maiden but she can't sail her way out of a calm bay at sunset.

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    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  7. Re:Nothing new to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    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 and iPhone. That's kinda laughable.

  8. Re:Nothing new to see here by ndogg · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, because those things fly so blindingly fast, and autonomously. Right...

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    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"