Date: May 9, 2019
Source: Purdue University
What can
fly like a bird and hover like an insect?
Your
friendly neighborhood hummingbirds. If drones had this combo, they would be
able to maneuver better through collapsed buildings and other cluttered spaces
to find trapped victims.
Purdue
University researchers have engineered flying robots that behave like
hummingbirds, trained by machine learning algorithms based on various
techniques the bird uses naturally every day.
This
means that after learning from a simulation, the robot "knows" how to
move around on its own like a hummingbird would, such as discerning when to
perform an escape maneuver.
Artificial
intelligence, combined with flexible flapping wings, also allows the robot to
teach itself new tricks. Even though the robot can't see yet, for example, it
senses by touching surfaces. Each touch alters an electrical current, which the
researchers realized they could track.
"The
robot can essentially create a map without seeing its surroundings. This could
be helpful in a situation when the robot might be searching for victims in a
dark place -- and it means one less sensor to add when we do give the robot the
ability to see," said Xinyan Deng, an associate professor of mechanical
engineering at Purdue.
The
researchers will present their work on May 20 at the 2019 IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation in Montreal. A YouTube video is available
at https://youtu.be/jhl892dHqfA.
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