Nano-Drone Swarm Shows Off Slightly Creepy Formation Skills
- Posted on February 1, 2012 at 4:20pm by
Liz Klimas
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If the soldier-like perfection of the synchronized formation by these mini drones doesn’t freak you out a bit — their collective buzzing sure will.
Orchestrated by the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, these 20 “nano quadrotors” developed by KMel Robotics seem to, as Popular Science describes, sense each other’s proximity and work together to maintain formation “like a hive of bees moving en masse.”
Watch the drone swarm in varying formations and with obstacles (Note: Hold out for the figure eight at 1:27):
Defense Tech paints an eery picture of the drones’ potential:
Can’t you imagine a swarm of tiny drones like these being launched at an enemy by a small infantry unit? They could be carried in a backpack, controlled by a laptop and sent to spy on a nearby enemy and even explode on any targets they spot, similar to what the Army’s Switchblade UAV can do now.
What do you think? Creepy or cool?
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Comments (138)
Movinfr8
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 10:49pmThe Bees know!!
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:54amor they get hacked…
TXPilot
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:50amWe are gonna need a bigger fly swatter.
Report Post »MYHEROISRON
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 5:42amI‘ll bet a garden hose would knock ’em down …
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 6:50am@jb…
Or jammed. Like our drone in Iran that obama just gave away with a, “pretty please, give us back our top-secret stealth technology?” and a hearty, “sugar on top if you don’t call the Chinese at the following telephone number, and don’t ask them to send over these four specific scientists, and be sure to tell them not to bring the following equipment list…”
These are all great technologies, but, we need a secure, reliable comm link, or they will need to be preprogrammed and be autonomous once launched.
Report Post »Maybe self-destruct isn’t such a far fetched idea after all!
harley3
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:46am@MYHEROISRON
but a 12 gauge shotty would be much more fun
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:02amAnyone else reminded of the sentinels from “The Matrix”? This kind of thing will be scaled up rapidly to fit in with the Air Force’s demand for increased drone technology. I can see swarms of small turbine powered drone helicopters carrying missiles and machine guns. Pretty soon we will have a fleet of drones that would rival the alien fleet in “Battle Los Angeles”. I for one could live without such a thing.
Report Post »SR1911man
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:39amPlay and watch the video above with the sound off. Then in another tab play this video-
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGU1P6lBW6Q
with the sound up.
ChiefGeorge
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:47amBreak windows and send in swarm, they track down and detonate over the bad guy!
Report Post »walkyrie
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:18amquick, the public needs a targeted or wide array EMP pulse gun! call it the “mini-fuzz-buster” if you like.
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:00pmKiller bees ?
Report Post »redgypsy
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:57pmWith that music, SR1911man, they are both way cooler and WAY creepier….
Report Post »Voteman
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 5:11pmSR1911MAN that was cool.
Report Post »Norden
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 5:18pmErnst Jünger, “The Glass Bees”: http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bees-Review-Books-Classics/dp/0940322552
Report Post »ladybarber
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 7:43pmUnfortunately I am allergic to bees but this is cool. Looks like a video game in real life or looks like a baby Drone!
Report Post »MYHEROISRON
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 4:48pmOh well, we’re all probably screwed …
Report Post »4blackhorses
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 6:24pmI hope they‘ve started thinkin’ ’bout arming those ‘bees’ with arab ‘stingers.’
Report Post »Pro-Palin
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 7:48pmI have more rounds than u have drones. And I also call on Americans to make a drone fleet to take out the masses this govt is making for thier spy ops against Americans. Your business is your business. I remember when the dc sniper was on the loose and people were up in arms about 1 or 2 planes equiped with special sensors for trying to find the guy. Where are the voices now? Major cities getting and using drones. Border patrol not a big deal staying on the border in a specified flyzone thats it.
Report Post »The Scarecrow
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 10:47pmDrones, me and my shotgun, good times!
Report Post »McNamara
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 11:08pmMy initial thought! I’m down!
Report Post »CowboyExpat
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:37amHa!….. Ha Ha!!
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:57amAnd I thought sporting clays were fun.
OMG
Report Post »c.rozycki
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:46amSounds like a party! I’m in.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:47amExcept when your shoot them they explode in your face.
Report Post »RandomGuy
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 10:36pmThe Future. It’s happening today — at Cyberdyne Systems. We Are The Future.™
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:42amROFLMAO!!
Yeah…maybe..but these are too COOL…I want a set…they just need to install a whisper mode and they would be the perfect tail…tag a criminal or enemies vehicle or person with a radioactive marker… and these things could track them anywhere in the world until the battery dies…
if you could adapt them to run off small nuclear decay sources, they could run for decades…
dang…maybe i shouldn’t have said that…they might be watching and steal my ideas…
@copyright ME…all ideas in this post belong to VRW Conspirator…don’t make me call Eric Holder on you… LOL
Report Post »Kiddo
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:56amWhat’s interesting here is they are using infrared motion capture cameras to record their movements into digital data. Essentially they are teaching each AI how to move autonomously in real space. These things already have brains but no idea how to act in the real world, or at least they didn’t…
Report Post »crazykees
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:48pmreminds me of the locusts in revelations.
Report Post »petty1699
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 10:31pmThat was exactly what I thought.
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:27amThen the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth….And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit….the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke…
Then out of the smoke LOCUSTS came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm…any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months….
Report Post »ALL4FREEDOM
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:06pmOK, NOW they’re creepy.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:40pmThat was so cool! The smile on my face while watching it was only matched by the smiley face formation at the end of the video.
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 6:31am“…Can’t you imagine a swarm of tiny drones like these being launched at an enemy by a small infantry unit?…”
Report Post »and if you’re the target that smile will be what?
Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:55pmA maniacal laugh as my own swarmbots obliterate all incoming targets.
Report Post »HK
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:15pmNow we have the control. Scale up the power, and lift capability; then add a recoiless ranged weapon. (laser?) Or, just add bomblets, like what is already in a cluster bomb. There is scary potential here. Add individual heat tracking sensors, then have the network assign a target to each drone, and with the click of a mouse, attack underway!
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:31amAdd cloaking capabilities, silent rotors, and a small amount of c4 to each one…
Report Post »semihardrock
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:14pmI think I just figured out why all those drunk people keep seeing and recording those “magical light formations” in the desert!
Report Post »avgconservative
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:33amYou COULD put a small LED light on each one and drive the neighborhood crazy on a calm windless night, huh?
(I see, a bad moon arisin’. I see, trouble on it’s way. I see earthquakes and lightnin’. I see bad times today. Don’t go around tonight. It’s bound to take your life. There’s a bad moon on the rise.)
http://FlipTheLib.com
Report Post »GovtIs4JusticeplusDefense
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:33pmHey brosef, when were you with 1/6 Hard?
Report Post »Netsurfer2
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:59pmTessla created the idea of frequency in that everything has a frequency and when matched can destroy the object. Now we have many objects being controlled with different frequencies, strategically placed to avoid confusion and very direct in being able to handle most anything! Welcome to the age of the computer folks with technology in such that would amaze anyone you knew in the old days!
Like I said, sooner or later, I expect that wars will be fought in space as well on earth! It’s all just a matter of time!
Tessla passed the chance of ever becoming a millionaire, because he did not want to be controlled! Knowledge is beyond any amount that you can give in money when you truly think about your capabilities! That is what communists and dictators always do first, kill all the intelligence, because you cannot control them! I work in engineering and they have no idea what I had to go through in my studies in order to get to where I am at today! I have far more capabilities than what I am using now! I will keep learning and growing regardless!
There was a very rich man who once told me, “only a fool will spend his money and have nothing to show for it later”. Now I understand why he said that! We are up against very high inflation coming and you will see interest rates rise at the peak of inflation when the time comes! Get out of debt!
Report Post »yiddishlion
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:27pmTesla was probably smarter than Einstein. By quite a bit. I wonder what was in all those papers that the government confiscated? I’m betting that is where we have been getting a lot of our advanced military technology over the years.
Report Post »yiddishlion
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:30pmTesla was probably smarter than Einstein, by quite a bit. I wonder what happened to all his papers that the government confiscated? I bet that is where a lot of our advanced military technology has come from over the years.
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:54pmVery COOL….. but also kinda SCARY….
Report Post »blaaaaackwoman
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:52pmWe need to trqain those things to kill mosquitoes.
Report Post »Gumbercules
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 10:27pmI’m with you on that.
Report Post »SgtBarrett
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 3:31pmOHH YEAAAHH! YOU ARE A GENIUS!! Fly a swarm of them through the air for a few hours a night and I bet the number of mosquitos would definitely go down as the little propellers chop them up into squito parts!
LIKE LIKE LIKE!!
Report Post »DanTheBarbarian
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:11pmTrue, one shotgun blast would take care of a group of these things … unless you put a little chunk of C4 underneath them, then that shotgun blast would paint you all over the walls.
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:52amthese are unmanned…they can fly at 100‘s if not 1000’s of feet above the ground with high megapixel HD telephoto lens cameras..a shotgun wouldn’t hit them…you would need a rifle…and a scope…
since these little guys are little and they appear to have adaptive radar cruise control technology – that is why they can recognize each other and be in formation and go around obstacles – they might be able to dodge and evade incoming fire.. if you could build in audio and visual sensors to detect the launch of a ground or air based projectile/bullet/missle, these little guys could be lethal!! Seriously…combine these with a single shot launcher that fires out the homing bullet from the article yesterday and you have… Assassination Drone D-100… then this company would HAVE to change their name to Cyber Dyne Systems…. then we can all run and scream that the Terminator is coming and where is Kyle Reese and Sarah Connors.. LOL…
again..
Report Post »@copyright… all ideas to turn these drones into the D-100 is copyrighted by ME.. VRW Conspirator.. just in case you government NSA/FBI types get any ideas about stealing my ideas…
RagingJudge
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:58pmC4 requires extreme heat and a shockwave to ignite. A shotgun pellet’s not going to ignite it, not even a high-powered rifle bullet. Go ahead and plug ‘em all you like!
Report Post »SgtBarrett
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 3:35pmNo, they dont have adaptive radar. There are several IR cameras tracking the group, each bot has its own RC frequency and the PC controlling them all knows the exact location of each unit. Making minor adjustments to flight path as each wavers or bobs out of place. It’s not that complicated yet. Wait till they have to place all the location data gathering into the actual bot instead of having it externally controlled by a laptop or PC… then it will get interesting.
Report Post »Aerocog
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:02pmabsolutely, incredible what an innovation of modern technology.
Report Post »ShyMan
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:54pmCool.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:52pmWhat about using a thousand of the self guided bullets to take out a thousand people with a head shot simultaneously.
Report Post »CS Lewis FAN
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:19pmcareful…we may become the target one day.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:32amAll weapons can be used for good or bad.
Report Post »BlackCrow
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:51pmThe “drones” are off the shelf RC toys. ( Yes I still “play” with such things.) It is the control that sets this apart from the run of the mill Air Hog toy you can buy at Walmart. And yes you can get these things with live video capability for a few bucks more and feed that video to an iPhone. Cops? The neighbors 12 year old has the ability given an average allowance.
Report Post »pillar of smoke
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:51pmi can see some good use for these. search and rescue, data mapping, wildlife observations, arial bithday messages. from what i have seen they are really limited in power and payload. I would hate to be the dude risking his life trying to use one of these in combat though. it wouldn’t take long to narrow down a search for the opperator. and with the proper equipment the enemy would be able to dissable the little guys and know exactly where the opperator is. i think we are a long ways off. pretty cool though.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:19pmWho says you will need a local operator? I am sure they could launch these via artillery or delivered by a larger drone from quite a distance and control from a command center. Predator drones are controlled from nevada…
Report Post »Common.Cents
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:48pmWith all that money, you would think they could afford a cameraman.
Report Post »Chris
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 7:06amWhy waste research money on a cameraman?
Report Post »jjohnson_n_oklahoma
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:46pmAs technology grows each passing year, I am often reminded of the terminator movies. I read in a recent popular scientist magazine that drones will soon be able to fly, fire missiles, and think for themselves, without the need for someone in a control room, doing that for them now. They said an intelligent officer, speaking on the issue under anonymously, the military was currently testing the new software. We may create things to be used on our enemies, but they could just end up biting us in the butts.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:05pmAn intelligent officer is an impossibility and military intelligence is an oxymoron. To all the 9666′s out there, I just had to do it.
Report Post »Swamp Fawkes
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:44pmTeach them how to pour shots science man!
Report Post »BluifoxEd
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 9:57pmHere! Hear!
Report Post »beckyspatflaveredstew
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:39pmUnder the control of groups, that do not have the protection of individual liberty as a priority, it is very creepy.
Report Post »jcannon98188
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:03pmYou can always do what they did and build your own. Then have them on standby to protect your house against ANY invader. Think about how epic of a home security this would be. If someone breaks in, have a group of these fly around releasing knockout gas :D
Report Post »Cause4Liberty
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:36pmPolice state nano drones meet 12 ga. 12 gauge reach out and give nano drone a touch of kindness.
Report Post »Ohio Guy
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:35pmCreepy!
Report Post »taxpro4u03
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:34pmCreepy/Cool — ‘….as seen on tv…’ No need for boots on the ground with all the hardware run by software which is a good thing – Downsizing the NEED for ‘personnel’ will help the MIC save on….. LABOR. Kinda takes the chivalry out of ‘battle,’ too. m -m- m- there go the medals of ‘honor.’
Report Post »KSherrell
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:32pmOne shot gun blast would take care of them…:)
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 8:25pmDid you ever beat a Bee Hive with a stick?
Report Post »TruthAlways801
Posted on February 1, 2012 at 7:30pmAll technology like this is cool even if it is a bit creepy put in the context you talked about in this article. It is only the intentions of the operators or commanders of those operators that make it uber creepy or of no consequence. Just like a knife, in the hands of a serial killer it never ends well but in the hands of a chef pleasure is sure to follow.
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