Name: Robots that fly ... and cooperate
Uploaded: 2012-03-01T15:34:51Z
Duration: 16 min 29 s
Description: In his lab at Penn, Vijay Kumar and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams -- for construction, surveying disasters and far more.

In his lab at Penn, Vijay Kumar and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams -- for construction, surveying disasters and far more.

Robots that fly ... and cooperate

Small, agile quadrotor robots can fly, sense their environment, and coordinate in swarms without GPS or central control. In one demonstration, a robot performed a 360-degree flip in less than half a second and could recover instantly after being thrown through the air. These robots can enter disaster sites, build structures autonomously, and adapt to new environments by mapping spaces on the fly. Inspired by swarms of ants, their decentralized cooperation unlocks new possibilities for construction, search-and-rescue, and even musical performances.