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

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

[TheCarp]

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

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

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.