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AirBurr UAV Navigates By Crashing Into Things

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-at-first-you-don't-succeed dept.

Zothecula writes "If you've ever watched a fly trying to find its way around a house, you might have noticed that it didn't take a particularly graceful approach – it probably bounced off a lot of windows and walls, until by process of elimination, it found a route that was clear. Well, researchers at Switzerland's EPFL Laboratory of Intelligent Systems are taking that same approach with the latest version of their autonomous AirBurr UAV – it's built to run into things, in order to map and navigate its environment."

4 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Drunk by silanea · · Score: 5, Funny

    So essentially it mimics a drunk person? I have a suspicion I know how the idea for this research project first came up.

    --
    Rudolf Hess edited Mein Kampf. He was the very first grammar nazi.
    1. Re:Drunk by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is the way my wife navigates when she's sober.

    2. Re:Drunk by TheCarp · · Score: 4, Funny

      This method has certainly been used by many to detect whether the toilet seat is in the correct position.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  2. Re:Sounds like robotics class in college by X0563511 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I find this bash quote to be appropriate:

    #240849 +(13311)- [X]
    [Patrician|Away] what does your robot do, sam
    [bovril] it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...