Squads of autonomous drones have been successfully tested in the wild

They fly side by side in the same direction, towards a target some ten meters away, avoiding branches, embankments and other obstacles. They took turns passing through the narrow space between the bamboo stalks.

All this in a completely autonomous, coordinated manner, and on the ground they discovered in real time.

The experiment, conducted by scientists from Zhejiang University, yields a scene from science fiction. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Roboticsbegins by mentioning movies such as Star Wars, Prometheus o blade runner 2049.

The ability to navigate and coordinate crowds of drones in these films has inspired many researchers. Here we are taking a step towards such a futurewrite the authors of this work.

These machines, specially designed for the experiment, were equipped with a stereo camera, sensors and an on-board computer. More importantly, a specific algorithm was developed.

Swarm drones have been tested in the past, but only in open environments or with known obstacle positions in advance.explained to AFP Enrica Soria, of the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, who has been working on the subject for several years.

This is the first time a swarm of drones has successfully flown out in an unstructured environment, in the wild.she pointed out, calling the experience aamazing.

This little flying robot can determine their environment on their own, map it and then plan their trajectoryhe explained.

Multiple applications

Because these drones do not rely on any external infrastructure (such as GPS), swarms can be used during natural disasters. For example, after an earthquake, to find damage and/or send help. Or in a damaged building where people can’t venture without danger.

Certainly, it is now possible to use individual drones in such situations. But with the very limited time of flight autonomy, sending swarms saves a great deal of time.

Another possibility: carrying heavy objects that the machine alone cannot lift.

What about military applications?

Drones are widely used by the military, and the Pentagon has repeatedly expressed its interest in such hordes, which it is also testing on its side.

Military research is not shared with the rest of the worldsaid Enrica Soria. So it is difficult to know at what stage of development they are.

Can the army use the algorithms developed by the researchers? This is part of the good and bad sides of having science in open accesshe commented modestly.

Several experiments were tried

Chinese scientists have conducted several experiments, including flying in the bamboo forest.

In another, drones were forced to stay in formation. Instead, a third test flew them in converging directions, with a walking person in the center of the area, to prove their ability to evade each other or moving people.

Our work is inspired by birds, which fly well in flocks, even in dense forests., explains Xin Zhou, lead author of the study, in a blog post. The model of insects, in their sudden movements, is rather avoided.

The challenge, he says, is to reconcile the conflicting commands: lightweight and small machines, but with high-performance computing capabilities and a safe trajectory, without increasing flight time …

When will such crowds be widely used?

We are not that far away, believes Enrica Soria. Tests are still needed in ultra-dynamic environments, mimicking for example cities, where vehicles and passers-by are in turmoil. Regulations also need to be adopted, which takes time.

But according to him, in the next few years we can have a very reliable system.