Smart Quadcopters Find their Way without Human Help or GPS

Phase 1 of DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program concluded recently following a series of obstacle-course flight tests in central Florida. Over four days, three teams of DARPA-supported researchers huddled under shade tents in the sweltering Florida sun, fine-tuning their sensor-laden quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during the intervals between increasingly difficult runs. DARPA’s FLA program is advancing technology to enable small unmanned quadcopters to fly autonomously through cluttered buildings and obstacle-strewn environments at fast speeds (up to 20 meters per second, or 45 mph) using onboard cameras and sensors as “eyes” and smart algorithms to self-navigate.

[@tamarinds]

so glad to see this in action

[@JohmathanBSwift]

Me too.

[@KahalealiiTedIshikawa]

Me three.

[@Tracks777]

Fantastic video! Keep it up!

[@DerHirni]

I wonder what the battery life is, considering all the extra tech and weight on the drone.

[@hrushikeshgargote]

superb 👌

[@scouttroop291]

you can use a small drone i see the army useing there launch by hand sucks you can use a 40 mm on a m4

[@pikminlord343]

good development and investment

[@scose]

4 minutes and no mention of the teams? Not even institutions and PI names? 😠 Shout out to all the student researchers who did the work!!

[@ingusmant]

The variants using a movable LIDAR seem to be having balance issues due to the servo which makes scanning even more erratic and the unit seems to waste a lot of energy self correcting this

[@drbendover7467]

just add lasers.

[@TGC40401]

1: Not much use in a dangerous fire. 2: This could solve the minor issue self driving cars were having. 3. When do we put guns on it?