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Quadrotor Autonomous Flight

Morgane Alzieu
Translator: Jack Sims
December 9, 2010 6:23 PM
 
The world of hi-tech is decidedly blessed with do-it-yourselfers. A Californian student is the latest to show his quality in the presentation of a project at the University of Berkeley.

Patrick Bouffard, who used to work in the aerospace industry, returned to university for the satisfaction of learning more and it certainly looks as if he's enjoying it.

We have already seen the Kinect used in puppet design and here Mr Bouffard, whose imagination would seem to know no bounds, has created a strange hybrid between an AR Drone and the Kinect, based on an open-source driver. This Quadrotor is part of an open-source  project known as the Robot Operating System. After several all-night coding sessions Mr Bouffard gave birth to this: 


 
The Kinect is used as a 3D radar that enables the Quadrotor to recognise obstacles and avoid them. With a programmed route, the radar can park the device if it meets an obstacle on its way.

And what would such a machine be good for in the future? Surveillance and security systems of course, but also piloting cars! We're also expecting one or two toys to result from it!



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