Obstacle avoidance

Obstacle avoidance is crucial for drones, but most systems aren’t fast enough for some situations. Now engineers at the University of Zurich have developed a new system that gives drones such fast reflexes that they can play – and win at – dodgeball.

Autonomous robots have made their way to the factory floor and busy warehouse, and are even greeting customers at some hotels. But few are out in the wild. And it's the wild that's the source of inspiration for a new breed of bots that can build structures to overcome obstacles.​

Our experiences with so-called self-flying drones so far have fallen a little short of the promised entirely handsfree form of fantastical film-making, but if the demo footage that accompanies the newly announced Skydio R1to go by, that could soon change. ​​

Parrot's newly-announced S.L.A.M.dunk is a development kit for drones equipped with hardware that suggests a particular focus on obstacle avoidance and navigation, but doubles as a desktop computer as well. ​

After taking out last year's Drones for Good Competition, the crash-proof Gimball drone's real-world durability and potential as a life-saving​ search and rescue aid have been put to the test in deep the crevasses of the Swiss Alps.​

Among the many computer scientists working on crash avoidance systems for drones is a team of MIT researchers, who have developed route-planning software that allows the aircraft to make intricate turns to autonomously navigate tight spaces. ​​

Let's cast our eye over the more promising drone applications to emerge in 2015 – a diverse list that includes everything from drones that deliver medical supplies to drones that can build bridges all by themselves. ​

Researchers have found a way to streamline the computational algorithms needed for a drone to map its surroundings, giving an autonomous aircraft a newfound ability to avoid obstacles at high speeds.

How drones can be made to avoid crashing into stuff is a question that has long plagued the technology. But the world's largest drone maker DJI says it has now developed a solution. Called Guidance, its obstacle avoidance system integrates with its new developer-focused Matrice 100 quadcopter.

Maybe not as glamorous as drones that go faster or shoot beautiful images, but making them less likely to crash into objects is still critical to advancing the technology. Startup Panoptes' answer to this is a kit that can be slapped onto certain consumer drones to stop them running into things.

The UAE's international Drones For Good competition seeks to emphasise the positive capabilities of drones and on Saturday, a team of Swiss technologists took out first prize with a vehicle that flies protected by a spinning cage, helping it to better travel through confined spaces.