A tiny artificial eye inspired by the vision systems of insects could help small flying drones navigate their surroundings well enough to avoid collisions while buzzing around in confined, cluttered spaces—a key step in making these small autonomous flying vehicles practical.
An emerging class of very small flying drones has taken off in public and private research labs in recent years (see “Robotic Insect Takes Off”). These mini drones could be valuable in spying and surveillance; they might also be useful for things like monitoring disaster areas or delivering supplies to humans. But there remains a lot of work to be done toward developing miniature navigation systems, particularly for confined spaces. Just avoiding collisions is a still a major technical challenge, says Dario Floreano, director of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
via Technology Review
