Failsafe hovering of quadrocopter after loosing propellers

The following video shows the application of a failsafe routine that is executed at the moment when the micro aerial vehicles looses one or more propellers. Obviously, while the ongoing mission objectives can no longer be pursued one still wishes to preserve safety and prevent the crashing of the copter.

The algorithm developed by the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control of ETH in Zurich allows the continuation of a stable hovering and eventually ensures a safer landing on the ground.

A promising module for increasing safety in autonomous flying, although probably it could prove more useful if the failsafe routine could further deal with semi-breaking, or crashing of propeller during the flight which is something more likely to happen, compared to loosing completely one propeller as is shown in that video.

Air drones deployed in Philippines for search and rescue

Air drones are being deployed in Philippines after the disastrous pass of the Typhoon, assisting rescuers and first-aid responders to assess the situation from viewpoints that would otherwise be difficult to reach. The air drones can provide an augmented perceptual field of view as they are able to inspect areas from high altitude and map important details of the environment, such as collapsed buildings and people. Below is a video that demonstrates their deployment at various sites together with footage from their recordings:

Below you can watch the video of the human-robot mission that was dispatched in the earthquake-hit area of Emilia Romana in Italy, back in summer 2012, as part of the EU project NIFTi (www.nifti.eu).

The full article is available here:

http://vision-robotics.blogspot.fr/2012/08/nifti-returns-from-earthquake.html