Drone Hunts Down and Pops Balloons

from wired.co.uk

A manually-operated drone which can seek and destroy targets is one thing, but what if it could carry out its missions autonomously? A Japan-based developer and drone builder has been finding out what it takes to do just that.

Randy Mackay has hacked together a drone which independently scouts an area for large red balloons. When it spies one, the drone unflinchingly pops it. Mackay’s quadcopter has a camera which sends images to the vehicle’s on-board navigation computer. If a “blob of red” is identified in the images, the drone’s flight path is adjusted so that it accelerates towards the blob. Once the propellers make contact, that balloon is history.

In order to build the system, Mackay relied on a combination of different flight controllers and open source computer vision software OpenCV. The project was assembled for the Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition, which this year challenged entrants to design balloon-popping airborne robots.

Mackay appears to be the first to have developed an airborne drone which can carry out such a task, though drones which can autonomously locate other kinds of target have many applications.

Last year, the University of Maryland developed rhino-seeking drones in an effort to tackle illegal poaching of the animals in South Africa. However, now that UAVs are being armed with guns and pepper spray for riot control, it’s likely that there are some areas in which autonomous targeting capabilities would cause concern.

Keith Colton, a mechanical engineer who has worked with drone technology at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, told Wired.co.uk that it’s unusual to see a drone which can automatically find targets based on search criteria. “It’s a good first step towards being able to identify other items or people,” he said. Colton added that there were a string of practical capabilities that this sort of technology may one day make possible

“Being able to use vision systems for either in-air refuelling or in-air recharging is something that I can definitely see a direct use for,” he commented.

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