Mimic Octopus
Flying Robots Learn Mind-Boggling Tricks (CNN) -- Professor Raffaello D'Andrea isn't short of admirers for his autonomous flying robots and the amazing tricks they perform. Every week he receives a flood of emails from exciting people telling him how to use them, he says "Folks have contacted me about using them to deliver burritos and pizzas, paint walls, do search and rescue, monitor the environment, flying cameras for movies ... It's just endless," D'Andrea says. "I'm not going to pass judgment on whether they are good or bad ... my role is to show people what is possible."Amazingly these robots can do amazing things like dancing to music and even playing the piano.”In order to fly these things you need gyros. Only recently have they become small, accurate, and cheap enough to put on these vehicles,” he explains. Today, increasingly complex flight maneuvers are being attempted as quadrocopters work together to build a six-meter tall model tower and juggle balls and poles. It is an extraordinary and slightly befuddling sight to behold. There seems no limit to what autonomous flying robots might be capable of in the future and their unstoppable rise is increasingly causing concern, particularly their use in espionage and warfare.
Suppressing the technology is not an option though, D'Andrea argues. "I'm a firm believer that if the military use this technology then it's just a short step away from everyone using it," he says. "I think there needs to be more room for unconstrained creation. We need to provide ways for folks, especially at university, to push the boundaries of what technology can do without being concerned about the immediate commercial application," he says."We should be more concerned about fulfilling our dreams as children. What was it we wanted to do as children? We wanted to
Suppressing the technology is not an option though, D'Andrea argues. "I'm a firm believer that if the military use this technology then it's just a short step away from everyone using it," he says. "I think there needs to be more room for unconstrained creation. We need to provide ways for folks, especially at university, to push the boundaries of what technology can do without being concerned about the immediate commercial application," he says."We should be more concerned about fulfilling our dreams as children. What was it we wanted to do as children? We wanted to