June 17, 2012

The robot that always lands on its feet




The AirBurr: Robust Flight in Cluttered Indoor Environments

(June 17, 2012)  Robots capable of flight in cramped and cluttered environments have many advantages over their ground-based counterparts, but most current systems suffer from the same fundamental problem: any contact with obstacles has catastrophic, mission-ending results. What if instead of avoiding collisions, a flying robot can become robust to them, and even take advantage of contact with its environment?