Military researchers are working hard to give their robots the powers and shapes of animals. The latest addition to the menagerie: teeny-tiny drones that can see like bugs, and hear like bats.
U.S. forces have been deploying more and more handheld drones, to keep tabs on potential foes. But right now, the ‘bots are only half-useful, because they need a human pilot to fly ‘em. If the machines are ever going to maneuver on their own — especially in urban areas – they’ll have to be able to sense their environment better. Otherwise, they’ll keep crashing into buildings and street signs. One project, funded by the Air Force, aims to help the drones out, by mimicking animals’ senses.
University of Maryland’s Timothy Horiuichi is trying to get computers to copy bats’ "echolation" ability — nature’s answer to radar, basically. So Horiuchi is building a circuit that he hopes that can emulate how "interaural level differences" are processed "in the bat brainstem and midbrain." He’s already built a number of robotic "batmobiles" to test his circuits out.
Bugs use their combination eyes to gather a ton of visual information from almost every angle. Horiuichi’s colleague Sean Humbert would like to see his ‘bots ape that ability of "insect visual systems [to] combin[e] motion estimates from arrays of local motion detectors in a way that preserves the spatial layout of the retina."
Safe navigation through urban environments requires the ability to avoid both stationary objects (such as buildings, wires, poles and trees) and moving objects (such as cars, trucks and people)," explains Aurora Flight Sciences, which is working with the professor pair. "Each obstacle may present a different potential danger to the MAV [micro air vehicle, or tiny drone], and must be dealt with accordingly. Since buildings and other urban obstructions often limit or completely block communications between the MAV and the ground troops, the MAV must have the onboard capability to autonomously navigate the hazards. Such a capability would allow MAVs to look under objects that might be blocked from view from up above, look in windows or doors, or simply view things from a different, more advantageous perspective."
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