University of Pennsylvania engineers have taught many miniature aircraft to perform complex, coordinated maneuvers. The impressive somersaults that nano-helicopters do in the air seem to be from a sci-fi movie
Alex Kushleyev, Daniel Mellinger and Vijay Kumar of the University of Pennsylvania GRASP lab have partnered with KMel Robotics. Together, they programmed 20 minicopters and received a small airborne remotely controlled battalion.
The swarm was named Nano Quadrotors. And although the popular prefix has nothing to do with the case, the machines are innovative. Maneuvering in the air, they easily line up in the most intricate figures, no worse than the real Chinese circus artists.
For example, in one of the tests, the minicopters were given the task to move along the trajectory of the figure eight, with which the quads coped brilliantly! The vehicles also easily turned over in the air and dodged obstacles, dividing into separate groups.
But scientists, of course, pored over a swarm of robots not for the sake of entertainment - the coordinated action of a platoon of miniature cars in the future may be useful on the battlefield, in rescue operations, for tracking any objects, when searching for victims and building buildings.
The developers have not yet reported technical details. It remains to watch an impressive video of a joint flight of several minicopters.