{"id":540,"date":"2017-12-28T20:40:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T10:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cognav.net\/?p=540"},"modified":"2017-12-28T20:47:56","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T10:47:56","slug":"540","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/?p=540","title":{"rendered":"Brief News of Cognitive Navigation (2017-002)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">1. This Autonomous Quadrotor Swarm Doesn&#8217;t Need GPS<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">By\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/author\/ackerman-evan-\">Evan Ackerman<\/a>\u00a0 Posted\u00a027 Dec 2017\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1240px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/automaton\/robotics\/drones\/this-autonomous-quadrotor-swarm-doesnt-need-gps\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/image\/Mjk5OTMyOA.jpeg\" width=\"1240\" height=\"748\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: UPenn\/YouTube UPenn&#8217;s autonomous quadrotor swarm doesn&#8217;t need GPS or external localization to fly indoors or outdoors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Researchers are working hard towards independent autonomy for flying robots,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">The University of Pennsylvania has been doing some\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.spectrum.ieee.org\/automaton\/robotics\/drones\/aggressive-quadrotors-zip-through-narrow-windows-without-any-help\">particularly amazing development in this area<\/a>, and they&#8217;ve managed to teach a swarm of of a dozen 250g quadrotors to fly in close formation, even though each one is using just one small camera and a simple IMU.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">This is probably the largest swarm of quadrotors which don&#8217;t rely on motion capture or GPS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">All the autonomy components are working onboard<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">More info on <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/automaton\/robotics\/drones\/this-autonomous-quadrotor-swarm-doesnt-need-gps\">IEEE Spectrum<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">2. Engineers program tiny robots to move, think like insects<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">By\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:vpk6@cornell.edu\">Syl Kacapyr<\/a>\u00a0 December 13, 2017<\/span><\/h5>\n<figure style=\"width: 1140px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/stories\/2017\/12\/engineers-program-tiny-robots-move-think-insects#.WkRt4fq8Bs4.twitter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/story_thumbnail_xlarge\/public\/2017-12\/1213_robobee.jpg?itok=RrLnJRcQ\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">RoboBees manufactured by the Harvard Microrobotics Lab have a 3 centimeter wingspan and weigh only 80 milligrams. Cornell engineers are developing new programming that will make them more autonomous and adaptable to complex environments.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">While engineers have had success building tiny, insect-like robots, programming them to behave autonomously like real insects continues to present technical challenges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">A group of Cornell engineers has been experimenting with a new type of programming that mimics the way an insect\u2019s brain works, which could soon have people wondering if that fly on the wall is actually a fly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Unlike traditional chips that process combinations of 0s and 1s as binary code, neuromorphic chips process spikes of electrical current that fire in complex combinations, similar to how neurons fire inside a brain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Ferrari\u2019s lab is developing a new class of \u201cevent-based\u201d sensing and control algorithms that mimic neural activity and can be implemented on neuromorphic chips.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Ferrari\u2019s lab has teamed up with the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory, which has developed an 80-milligram flying RoboBee outfitted with a number of vision, optical flow and motion sensors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">\u201cYou can\u2019t really rely on prior modeling of the robot to do this, so we want to develop learning controllers that can adapt to any situation.\u201d said Ferrari.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">More info on <a href=\"http:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/stories\/2017\/12\/engineers-program-tiny-robots-move-think-insects#.WkRt4fq8Bs4.twitter\">Cornell.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">3.The future of flying cars: science fact or science\u00a0fiction?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/jonathan-roberts-94843\">Jonathan Roberts<\/a> and <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/michael-milford-271854\">Michael Milford<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0May 8, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-future-of-flying-cars-science-fact-or-science-fiction-76701?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=twitterbutton\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/LIgS7nB.gif\" width=\"690\" height=\"388\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">THERE\u2019S A LOT MORE SPACE IN THE SKY. 123RF.COM\/OSTAPENKO, TELE52\/MICHAEL MILFORD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Uber has shaken up the taxi industry and is trying to put driverless cars on our roads. Now the company aims to have\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2017\/04\/uber-really-seriously-promises-flying-cars-2020\/\">flying ride-sharing vehicles<\/a>in our skies by 2020.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Uber is not alone in working towards flying cars. But is this realistic, or just marketing hype?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">To many of us, the concept of flying cars is synonymous with the future, just like\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/content.time.com\/time\/specials\/packages\/article\/0,28804,2024839_2024845_2024850,00.html\">silver jumpsuits<\/a>and gourmet food in the\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/content.time.com\/time\/specials\/packages\/article\/0,28804,2024839_2024845_2024807,00.html\">form of a pill<\/a>. Those dreams have not yet materialised so what about flying cars?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">How safe?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">How fast, how far?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">How easy?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">How much?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">How long the before I can fly to work?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">More info on <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-future-of-flying-cars-science-fact-or-science-fiction-76701?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=twitterbutton\">The Conversation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. This Autonomous Quadrotor Swarm Doesn&#8217;t Need GPS By\u00a0Evan Ackerman\u00a0 Posted\u00a027 Dec 2017\u00a0 Researchers are working hard towards independent autonomy for flying robots, The University of Pennsylvania has been doing some\u00a0particularly amazing development in this area, and they&#8217;ve managed to teach a swarm of of a dozen 250g quadrotors to fly in close formation, even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[196,203,199,201,202,197,200,198],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=540"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547,"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions\/547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/braininspirednavigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}