AirBurr UAV Navigates By Crashing Into Things

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."

Comments

Sounds like robotics class in college

[Bob the Super Hamste]

That sounds similar to the approach that some took in my robotics class in college except those robots drove around on wheels and didn't fly. There hopefully is more brains in these things if they are mapping out their environment by doing so but the 64k we had to work with even allowed some some rudimentary mapping ability.

Re:Sounds like robotics class in college

[icebike]

You guys left college and formed iRobot and built Roomba floor sweepers, right?

It sort of navigated by knock as well.

Re:Sounds like robotics class in college

[X0563511]

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

Drunk

[silanea]

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

Re:Drunk

[BasilBrush]

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

Re:Drunk

[TheCarp]

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

Idiotic approach

[bluefoxlucid]

Current approaches bounce radio, sound, and light off obstructions, using radar/sonar/laser mapping. This new approach bounces the physical object off obstructions, for the purpose of...? Being more easily detected? Making even more noise? Causing itself and everything around it more damage?

Re:Idiotic approach

[BasilBrush]

I can think of a couple of reasons.

1) For the purpose of saving the weight of radar/sonar/laser devices. It's a small flying device. Weight matters.

2) For the purpose of saving the cost of radar/sonar/laser devices.

Failed analogy

[arisvega]

If you have TRULY observed a fly trying to find its way around a house, you might have noticed that it in fact takes a very GRACEFUL approach: it never bumps to anything but almost completely transparent objects (as do many birds), and its true grace can be readily observed through 1500 fps videos.

It is one of the animals with the highest flight maneuverability, as two of its wings have evolved to counterweights: not only it can hover and take-off backwards, but it can land upside-down, and does so very skillfully. See youtube and BBC documentaries for further edification.