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Insect-Inspired Flying Robot Handles Collisions And Keeps Going
Sabine Hauert writes "GimBall is a new flying robot that can collide with objects seamlessly. Generally, flying robots are programmed to avoid obstacles, which is far from easy in cluttered environments. Instead, researchers from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL believe that flying robots should be able to physically interact with their surroundings. Take insects: they often collide with obstacles and continue flying afterwards. Their robot uses a passively rotating spherical cage to remain stable even after taking hits from all sides. This approach enables GimBall to fly in the most difficult places without complex sensors."
When I read "insect like robot" I don't expect it to be the size of a basketball. Thankfully, insects aren't that big where I live.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
Hey researchers, a toy company beat you to market.
I believe the news here is that it doesn't veer off in funny, hard to predict directions when it bumps in to something. Yes, toy companies have cages around their flying RC offerings, but having that fling thing be able to maintain stability is new. Check the video at ~48 seconds in.
If we colonize Mars, it won't be the World Wide Web anymore. UWW?
Does your 30 dollar RC helicopter fly autonomously in a given direction, while bouncing against trees in a forrest?
Sig?
That's pretty big. It's going to be pretty annoying repeatedly bouncing off your daughter's window.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Except the part in the video where they have it go in a constant direction in a forest using on board magnetometers.
Jesus you whiny babies! This thing is cool, it does something new. Quit nitpicking whatever analogies somebody decided to apply to it (insects) or whatever preconceptions you're bringing for no reason at all (autonomy, slashvertisements). Either post a video of a different aircraft pushing its way through ferns and a maze of ceiling joists, or quit bitching... what it does is really neat!
You mean other than the part where the guy directly says that it's flying autonomously with nothing but a compass direction?
Maybe it needs a radio because they sometimes fly it remotely?
The 30 dollar RC helicopters at Wal*Mart already have a plastic cage around them so they hit walls and such without snapping the rotors off.
This doesn't seem all that different to me, aside from an outer cage on bearings. So what's the big deal?
A fixed cage can protect from damage, but does little to prevent crashes, since collisions will still affect the orientation of the rotor.
I saw nothing in the videos leading me to believe these weren't rc controlled. You can even see a the small orange 4 channel receiver on the supposed bot.
Why does an autonomous robot need a 4 channel receiver, unless it's being flown by a pilot?
How they're controlled isn't relevant. The point is that collisions don't interrupt their flight.