When you get hundreds of reindeers together and try to move them around, they turn into one gigantic sentient-seeming swarm that spins around together. This footage, taken from above with a drone by photographer Jan Helmer Olsen, shows the stunning spirals that are created when herding reindeers. It’s got to be dizzying for them.
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I admit that Audi’s design ideas when it comes to their automobiles these days are nothing short of stunning and inspirational. The Audi TT was the first Audi car that really caught my imagination, and even until today, that iconic shape is able to hold its own, and one of the German automobile manufacturer’s most recent innovation would be doing away with the traditional tail-lights, but rather, install ‘swarm’ lights on its conceptual car instead.
These ‘swarm’ lights will cover the entire width of the boot and rely on organic OLED technology to get the job done. These lights are smart enough to react to the movements of the car, which means drivers behind would have a better idea on what the driver is up to. Basically, the lights will swarm faster as the car accelerates, and as the driver turns, the red lights will start to flow towards the direction where the car is turning. Stepping on the brake would gather these lights in pools. Do you think that these will help road safety in the long term, or would it prove to be more distracting than anything else?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Bugatti Type Zero Electric Car Concept, 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class Is Most Aerodynamic Production Vehicle, 
The folks at the Georgia Robotics and InTelligent Systems (Grits) Lab at Georgia Tech have been hard at work for some time now researching swarm robots. A portion of said work deals with tasks that require a group of hi-tech gadgets to individually reach a location and a specific time — much like the mobile landing platform that we saw last year. The group is given a “score” and must determine how many of the Khepera robots are needed meet the goal, assigning specific roles and determining the shortest route to hitting their targets. One particular demo that we saw involved the swarm bots playing a projected piano of sorts to perform a short snippet of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” — internal cameras, special “hats” and cameras mounted around the room lend a hand in carrying out the assigned duties.
Musical performance is just one of the projects underway in the GritsLab. A real-world scenario involves the use of swarm robots for convoy cover. Using Parrot AR.Drones alongside the diminutive machines that we saw in action, researchers are looking at ways in which UAVs can be deployed to investigate and eliminate threats to convoys on the ground. This allows for the convoy to take an alternate route if needed while remaining under the watch of at least one UAV. For a look at the aforementioned classically scored action, jump down past the break to take a gander.
Gallery: Piano-playing swarm robots (eyes-on)
Continue reading Swarm robots perform classical ‘scores’ inside Georgia Tech’s GritsLab (video)
Filed under: Robots
The Nonami Group at Chiba University is developing drone robots for information gathering, and the group has demonstrated four multi-rotor helicopters, flying in formation using image processing.
“The cameras capture the markers, and send all the images to the host computer, which calculates the position and attitude. Positioning can be done to within 1 mm. The control frequency is 100 Hz, so position and attitude are calculated every 10 ms, to prevent collisions.”
Each helicopter …
Formation-flying quadrocopters have already given us hours of entertainment, but now they’ve also accomplished something serious. Earlier this month, mini choppers developed at Japan’s robot-loving Chiba University assisted in an emergency drill that simulated an explosion at a chemical plant. Four machines and a host computer (shown off after the break) used spherical markers, image processing and a heck of a lot of math to autonomously scan the site for survivors. The researchers claim the exercise went “very well” and that the local police force would like to “introduce this system” for genuine reconnaissance. That could include monitoring volcanic eruptions or inspecting power lines, but alas there’s no mention yet of using quadrocopter swarms to sneak up on yakuza.
Continue reading Swarming quadrocopters complete trial recon mission for Japanese police (video)
Filed under: Robots
Swarming quadrocopters complete trial recon mission for Japanese police (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’ve watched our potential quad-mech overlords from KMel Robotics evolve from agile solo acrobats to worker bees to deft synchronized performers. It seemed only a matter of time before they would hunt down Sarah Connor en masse — or take the show-biz world by storm. Fortunately for us, the tricky flyers chose to embrace their flamboyant side at a tour-de-force 16-quad lightshow in Cannes, where they opened the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase. The soaring automatons pulled all their past tricks out of the bag, flying precisely with mirrors to bounce lights from below, all timed to dramatic music –which they also had a hand in controlling. The sparkly treat awaits right after the break.
Robotic quadrotors’ training now complete, proven with razzle-dazzle Cannes show (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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