AirBurr UAV Navigates By Crashing Into Things

Zothecula writes "If you've ever watched a fly trying to find its way around a house, you might have noticed that it didn't take a particularly graceful approach – it probably bounced off a lot of windows and walls, until by process of elimination, it found a route that was clear. Well, researchers at Switzerland's EPFL Laboratory of Intelligent Systems are taking that same approach with the latest version of their autonomous AirBurr UAV – it's built to run into things, in order to map and navigate its environment."

Drunk

[silanea]

So essentially it mimics a drunk person? I have a suspicion I know how the idea for this research project first came up.

Re:Drunk

[BasilBrush]

This is the way my wife navigates when she's sober.

Re:Drunk

[TheCarp]

This method has certainly been used by many to detect whether the toilet seat is in the correct position.

Re:Sounds like robotics class in college

[X0563511]

I find this bash quote to be appropriate:

#240849 +(13311)- [X]
[Patrician|Away] what does your robot do, sam
[bovril] it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls