How drones learn to fly autonomously
Summary
Small, agile drones have become part and parcel of our world, providing not only breathtaking aerial views or, as swarms and equipped with lights, creating impressive three-dimensional images in the sky. Jointly with Stephan Weiss, Jan Steinbrener heads the Control of Networked Systems research group at the University of Klagenfurt. The researcher about the problem with this approach: “In order to be able to fly and navigate stably, the drone ideally needs to calculate its own position a hundred times per second, but the small computer on board with its limited computing power is unable to process the camera images adequately.” Instead, Steinbrener and his team harness data from another sensor in the drone, which signals whenever there is a change in position or rotation. Instead of the usual method of training the algorithms on a powerful computer with previously recorded data, the researchers chose an approach inspired by living beings. Steinbrener has a great number of future applications in mind: “Drones that can navigate autonomously and without external signals could independently inspect critical infrastructure such as bridges or electric pylons that are otherwise difficult to reach, or survey situations that are hazardous for humans.