Follow The Leader: Drones Learn To Behave In Swarms

[TexasTowelie]

The Naval Posgraduate School's Timothy Chung stands with the unmanned aerial vehicles his team attempted to swarm in May, 2015. That day they were able to launch 20 into a swarm. After a second attempt in July, they got 30.
Krista Almanzan KAZU

At a restricted airfield at a quiet National Guard base in central California, researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School have loaded a drone they call a flying wing onto what looks like a giant sling shot.

The drone soars up into the air and settles into a racetrack pattern. It's up so high it's hard to see, but the sound is inescapable — like a buzzing bee. With the launch of several more, the buzz grows louder as they all settle into that racetrack pattern.

The aim is to get 24 drones into a swarm and have it behave like one.

"In our context, swarming means a large collection of aerial robots working together to do something meaningful or interesting," says Timothy Chung, who is heading up this project for the Naval Postgraduate School. "The one behavior that we're testing out today is a leader follower behavior where the aircraft talks amongst themselves."

Read more: http://kut.org/post/follow-leader-drones-learn-behave-swarms

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Skynet's gone neural. NT