Comments on: Why, no, I am not one bit afraid of these swarming, flying robotic drones

By: orwellian

orwellian — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, Skynet is in beta testing. I for one welcome our robotic overlords!

By: lasttide

lasttide — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wow. I would LOVE to see more info on the control methodology when the arrangement is so random. That is simply amazing.

By: schmod

schmod — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It’s like a RAID array of helicopters!

By: k88dad

k88dad — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Is it just me, or is anybody else reminded of an uprising of Norelco razor heads?

By: bcsizemo

bcsizemo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m sure it’s just me. Outside of studying the design of your mesh network setup, what do these things do?

I’ll grant you they are nifty, but they don’t seem to accomplish anything.

By: Vidya108

Vidya108 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“It is not until they assemble that they are able to fly.”

Voltron!

By: zuludaddy

zuludaddy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Behold the the common ancestor of both the T-1000 and the Hunter/Killers.

By: Viper23

Viper23 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Between these and the quadrotors from the other day I say we’re doomed…. All are doomed.

No, seriously, with the crazy awesome control systems we’re creating these days… as soon as one of these things decides to kill you either due to a good decision by a strong AI or due to a faulty decision by a weak AI, you’re pretty much as good as dead. All of the ducking and weaving in movies like terminator are nice fiction, but with these control systems, everyone in the room is dead as soon as the system decides to open fire.

My 2c.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

eurhythmics at 1:27!!!1!

.~.

By: wgmleslie

wgmleslie — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/

Yes indeed.

By: Yamara

Yamara — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nobody mentioned that Zurich is an ancient Raetic word for “goat horn”.

I’ll just let the cryptic crossword crowd puzzle out that joke.

By: Pantograph

Pantograph — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I can just see you back in the stone age: “It’s all very nice this wheel thingy you’ve invented, rolls nicely downhill and all, but what’s the practical use of that? You’ll just have to push it uphill again. It doesn’t do anything!”

By: WalterBillington

WalterBillington — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I like the way they seem to be INVULNERABLE. Take out 30% of the elements before they strike, and the angry 70% will melt you with y-rays.

Little buggers, indeed. Only a matter of time.

By: WalterBillington

WalterBillington — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I didn’t notice initially – at the end of the clip, they HIDE FROM THE RESEARCHERS above the fluo lights. Sentience.

By: dmoonfire

dmoonfire — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wow, those are pretty cool. It would be neat to see what practical uses are going to come out of this, but I just want to play with them.

I also give it a day or so before someone tries it with LEGO.

By: caseyd

caseyd — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

very cool, but are those ‘driving’ pairs not simply precessing due to the forces from the propeller? and the test-bed surface happens to be a nice size for 2 to precess?

a lot of problem solving cleverness here.

By: WalterBillington

WalterBillington — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ohh this is exciting – don’t let the Swiss people talk to these people “Aggressive manoeuvres for autonomous quadrotor flight”: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844:BlogPost:163944

That looks like a nastier little bugger.

By: Chris Tucker

Chris Tucker — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine the Hilarity that would Ensue if a swarm of these things were to invade the Super Bowl.

Bedecked with super ultrabright green LEDs

Just hovering above the field.

As if… waiting for a signal.

As the LEDs changed slowly from green to red, almost as if counting down…

Now, THAT would be a Super Bowl I’d actually watch.

For as long as it lasted, that is.

Why yes, I AM a sadistic SOB! Why do you ask?

By: Eicos

Eicos — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The flight control methodology seems to be “stand near the drone and catch it when it goes too high.” Also, the drones seen docking and prancing happily about in the first segment of the video are noticeably differently configured than the quadruply-docked units in the second segment, which makes me suspicious that they have linked all the stages in the design profile of the vehicle. It seems they are in the earlier stages of implementing their vision.

By: ThePope

ThePope — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The soft piano music helped to push away my fear

.. which came rushing right back when I misread it as The Feral Institute of Technology.

By: jonathon212

jonathon212 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

/kentbrockman I, for one, welcome our swarming, flying, robot overlords!

By: TheWiseLemur

TheWiseLemur — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The absolute coolest thing I have seen in a very, very long time.

By: Roy Trumbull

Roy Trumbull — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Having used it already as a plot device, I think we should organize a pool on the date of the first drone attack in the continental United States.

By: Gordon Stark

Gordon Stark — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, but just wait until someone installs the software of life into these, and arms them, and then it would be a whole different true story.

Once they are given life, and tasers, we are facing an all new paradigm.

Brace yourselves, because solid-state lifeforms are coming, very quickly.

Suddenly, such technology would not seem so cool and fascinating, once they are autonomously targeting, and swarming genetic lifeforms.