For the first time consumer-grade electronics are used for programming autonomous drones. This drone makes use of smartphone as its brain.
The phone senses its environment by taking real time pictures. Even the real time computation is done on the device itself along with higher-level autonomy, maneuvering, navigation, control and computer vision algorithms.
The product is the brainchild of GRASP Laboratory, University Of Pennsylvania. Click on the video below to see the autonomous flying robot:
This makes me think, if you lose your smartphone, you’d end up losing the drone as well. Anyways, the technology looks promising in areas like construction, surveying disasters and surveillance.
Source: IEEE Spectrum
