Robotic helicopter teaches itself how to fly aerobatics

Description

Autonomous helicopters offer a highly maneuverable and versatile platform in scenarios like disaster relief operations, but programming these machines to perform complex aerobatics is a formidable challenge - unless of course they teach themselves. This example developed by Stanford computer scientists does just that, learning to fly by watching other RC helicopters in the air. Not only does this artificial intelligence system produce a spectacular flying exhibition, it's seen as an important demonstration of robotic learning through observation.

The helicopters can fly by far the most difficult aerobatic maneuvers flown by any computer controlled helicopter according to the team who developed the system, Andrew Ng, the professor directing the research of graduate students Pieter Abbeel, Adam Coates, Timothy Hunter and Morgan Quigley.

The Stanford aircraft is an off-the-shelf radio control helicopter, with instrumentation added by the researchers. The helicopter carries accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers, the latter of which use the Earth's magnetic field to figure out which way the helicopter is pointed. The exact location of the craft is tracked either by a GPS receiver on the helicopter or by cameras on the ground (with a larger helicopter, the entire navigation package could be airborne.)

Original URL

http://www.gizmag.com/robotic-helicopter-teaches-itself-how-to-fly-aerobatics/11621/

http://www.gizmag.com/robotic-helicopter-teaches-itself-how-to-fly-aerobatics/11621/