Autonomous Helicopter Navigates Like Bugs
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 10 of November , 2008 at 3:12 am
It’s a sobering fact that most insects have more brainpower, or at least more basic life skills, than even the most modern robots. Small flying insects, for example, use a process called “optical flow” to navigate by translating changes in luminance into the relative speed and proximity of objects around them. The little helicopter in the above video is using some functions developed from these principles of insect navigation by researchers at the University of Maryland to find its way down a corridor.
Why is this exciting? Well, autonomous robot navigation in unfamiliar environments has always been a fairly intensive thing. I mean, have a look at all the hardware Boss has bolted on just to find its way around a 2-D environment. High resolution cameras, lasers, sonar, radar, lidar, GPS… Not to mention a SUVload of computers. This is not especially practical for micro-UAVs. But flying insects can navigate complex environments using this optical flow technique based on little more than the equivalent of low-res (I’d think?) cameras, which is pretty much exactly what you want in a micro-UAV nav system. And, you get the bonus of a freakishly efficient ability to dodge angry hand swipes.
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Category: Biorobotics, Research
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