Soldiers and disaster relief crews everywhere, rejoice

Dec 23, 2014 10:24 GMT  ·  By

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency may be mainly responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military, but many of its inventions or commissions often end up benefiting mankind as a whole. Better Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are a guaranteed shoe-in for that.

As sad as it sounds, military research projects are among the ones best funded and researched, right up there with medical science and consumer electronics.

Most often when we hear about something new from DARPA, or emerging from a contest financed by the organization, the core of the advancement fits into the categories of robotics and vehicles.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or flying drones in more colloquial terms, fit both of those. They are also the field where the latest development comes from.

DARPA is lobbying for more agile UAVs

DARPA has opened a new program, called Fast Lightweight Autonomy or FLA for short, and has made a Broad Agency Announcement soliciting proposals.

The purpose of the program is to develop algorithms capable of allowing autonomous flying drones to dive through thickets, shoot through wooded forests without hitting trees, land on branches, and generally do everything a Goshawk and other raptors can do naturally (watch and be amazed by the video below).

At present, while UAVs do well enough in clear skies, only quadcopters can navigate more obstacle-filled areas, and only when remotely guided by an operator. Also, they are very slow at doing it.

Through the FLA program, DARPA will provide participants with a standardized small UAV which they will have to develop algorithms for.

At the end of their work, the drone should be able to fly quickly through an urban obstacle course composed of rooms, staircases, corridors and other obstructions at a speed no lower than 20 m/s or 45 mph.

And yet, DARPA wants it all to happen free of human interference. The flight should be done autonomously by the drone's AI.

Made even more difficult by the condition that the UAV must not have any system unavailable to real birds. So no GPS, no remote sensors, no outside navigation aids, nothing. Just the equivalent of good eyesight, wind pressure sensors, and mass acceleration.

Practical applications

DARPA being DARPA, the raptor-like UAVs will be intended for military use, to scout the area ahead of a military detachment and other such things. Disaster response and search and rescue crews will surely adopt them swiftly as well, however.

Finally, since the UAVs are supposed to learn how to fly with sophistication via the equivalent of “muscle memory,” we wouldn't be surprised if inventors started to teach them tricks and hold contests for the most agile / crazy drone ever.

The agency will hold a Proposers Day on January 6, with proposals accepted until January 2.

DARPA wants super-agile drones (4 Images)

DARPA launches Fast Lightweight Autonomy program
The Goshawk watchesThe Goshawk being too awesome for words
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