""So we started looking at nature. Is there a creature in the world which can actually do this?" Sanket and his students found their answer in bats and the winged mammal's highly sophisticated ability to echolocate, or navigate via reflected sound. With a National Science Foundation grant, they're developing small, inexpensive and energy-efficient aerial robots that can be flown where and when current drones can't operate."
"Last month, emergency workers in Pakistan used drones to find people stranded on rooftops by massive floods. In August, a rescue team used a drone to find a California man who got trapped for two days behind a waterfall. And in July, drones helped find a stable route to three mine workers who spent more than 60 hours trapped underground in Canada."
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute develop tiny, bat-inspired drones that use echolocation to navigate via reflected sound in low-visibility environments. A lab uses fog machines and simulated bats to test navigation and sensing in dark, smoky, or stormy conditions. National Science Foundation funding supports creation of small, inexpensive, and energy-efficient aerial robots designed to operate where current drones cannot. Real-world drone applications include flood rescues in Pakistan, finding a trapped man behind a California waterfall, and locating a route to trapped mine workers in Canada. Research aims to advance from manual control to autonomous, swarm-capable search decision-making.
Read at Boston.com
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