In, the past few years drones have transformed from a geeky hobbyist affair to a full-on cultural phenomenon.They have been a great tool in search and rescue operations, damage area assessments,etc.They can fly to any places and record every minute details with the embedded camera in them. Though they have limited ability to move in the air, they have been successful in all attempts they have stepped to. The idea of bird like drones has laid its egg in Zurich, which has hatched to bring such an unbelievable change in the world, with it’s flying abilities.
The Search and Rescue drone can change its shape during flight. The bird like drones has a talent that can be found in birds across the world. Ornithology says, birds when flying through a narrow passage or abstract opening, that animal can instantly contort its wings to fit the area while in flight.
Until, now if you were to attempt to get a drone through a tight spot, you would have to change the size of the drone to fit through the hole. The drones developed by the Zurich can morph and pretzel it’s four arms to adapt the environment, all while maintaining flight stability, carrying small payloads and analyzing the surrounding area.
The newly created drone, adapts to what is the need in the field, creating new “shapes” depending on the area. When flying around normally the drone has its arm in the standard “X” shape. However, if you were to send the drone though a narrow passage to find survivors in an inaccessible area, the drone will take an “H” shape, tucking some of it’s arms along one axis, or even create an “O” shape, having all the arms folded as close as possible to it’s body.
If you need to inspect an obstruction or object while in flight the drone can take a T shape, bringing the camera as close as possible to the area that needs to be scrutinized. The solution is quite simple from a mechanical point of view, but it is very protean and very autonomous, with on-board perception and control systems. The final goal given to the drones are to enter the building, inspect every room and to return back, and figure out how to handle the situation itself.
Drones like this could prove to be powerful tools for first responders looking for survivors or even checking out areas that may be contaminated or lack structural integrity. And after all that, they are perfectly named “drones”. They are really the worker bees that work to any extent to save it’s own family-The EARTH.
