TED Talk on U Penn swarming quads now live (video quadrocopter acrobatics!)

DIY Drones ^ | March 1, 2012 | Chris Anderson

[Seizethecarp]

This great talk, given yesterday (2/29/12) at TED, is now live. I was here and the crowd was wowed. Check out the lovely math on simplifying the 12-dimensional math to 4 dimensions at around the 5:00 mark,

[Seizethecarp]

The big finish on the video is a swarm of tiny drones autonomously playing the "007 Theme" on four rigged instruments.

These quadrocopters can enter and navigate a building and using laser sensors construct the floorplan/blueprint and transmit it back to the groundstation.

[Seizethecarp]

Many new capabilities of swarms of drones as seen in this video can be exploited by our military, civilian authorities and terrorists (see my tagline).

[brityank]

... simplifying the 12-dimensional math to 4 dimensions ...

They forgot the 13^th dimension.

Time!

[Seizethecarp]

“How I Accidentally Kickstarted the Domestic Drone Boom”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/ff_drones/all/

Meanwhile, the brain of an autopilot—the “embedded computer,” or single-chip microprocessor, that steers the plane based on input from all the sensors—has undergone an even more impressive transformation, thanks to the rise of the smartphone. Once Apple’s iPhone showed that fluid and fast visual interfaces on touchscreens were what people wanted, the same insatiable demand for computational power that kicked in with the graphical user interface of desktop computers came to phones. But unlike the desktop, these mini supercomputers also needed to use as little power as possible. The result was a shift to the hyperefficient “reduced instruction set computing” architectures—led by British chip designer ARM, which now dominates the single-chip industry—driving the performance gains of our smartphones and tablets. As it turns out, these chips are also perfect for drones: Fast and power-efficient processors mean that they can go beyond simply following a preprogrammed mission and start to think for themselves.

And the smartphone-drone connection goes far beyond the processors. These days, a standard smartphone has a full suite of sophisticated inertial sensors to detect its position, a feature that’s integrated into everything from games to maps and augmented reality. The demand for higher-quality cameras in phones has launched a similar revolution in image-capture chips, which are used in drones. The need for smaller, better GPS in phones has brought the same technology to drones, too, such that GPS performance that cost tens of thousands of dollars in the 1990s can be had for as little as $10 in a thumbnail-sized device. The same goes for wireless radio modules, memory, and batteries.

In short, this new generation of cheap, small drones is essentially a fleet of flying smartphones. More and more, autopilot electronics look just like smartphone electronics, simply running different software. The technical and economic advantages of coattailing on the economies of scale of the trillion-dollar mobile-phone industry are astounding. If you want to understand why the personal-drone revolution is happening now, look no farther than your pocket.

[cynwoody]

The big finish on the video is a swarm of tiny drones autonomously playing the "007 Theme" on four rigged instruments.

Behind the scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfxS6QBheGo

[GeronL]

target practice drones

[knarf]

Somethin' REALLY neat from the site side bar

Some language caution real aviator men won't mind

[Carriage Hill]

Just amazing. (Just wait until they stop obeying commands and begin talking back defiantly.)

[muawiyah]

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0012572/quotes -A discussion regarding G’ar’s prosthetic eye ~ certainly as farsighted as the portable computer in Naked Lunch - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/ (a movie about same) ~ first published in 1959!

[DrC]

This is cool technology. I fear, however, what Big Brother might decide to do with it.

[ElayneJ]

for later

[TurboZamboni]

If you watch closely, the opening of the video has a picture of Manbearpig(Algore) on stage...TED motto: “ideas worth spreading”.

I disagree.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Bump.....

[PapaBear3625]

This is cool technology. I fear, however, what Big Brother might decide to do with it.

It definitely has military, law enforcement, and surveillance applications. I can see police and feds using them to peek into windows, and plant bugs to listen to people.

Visualize the reaction of Hamas when a few thousand of these come swarming into Gaza, with video and laser-designating capabilities, ready to point out targets for bigger, armed UAVs.

[AZLiberty]

Thanks for the link about the helicopter plucking the RC plane off the treetop. My daughter’s boyfriend told me about this story when I was in Tucson for Thanksgiving.

[knarf]

That WAS amazing, eh ??

THAT'S a true, hold m'beer .. watch this