Carnegie Mellon and Sensible Machines Demonstrate
Micro-flyer for ONR
In a demonstration aboard a former U.S. Navy ship, a small
quadrotor developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics
Institute and spin-off company Sensible Machines flew autonomously through
dark, smoke-filled compartments to map fires and locate victims.
Last fall's demonstration, part of an Office of Naval
Research (ONR) project called Damage Control Technologies for the 21st Century
(DC-21), showed that a small drone can operate in the confined spaces inside a
ship to rapidly gather situational information to guide firefighting and rescue
efforts.