Autonomous drones that can 'see' and fly intelligently

Drones have been given 'eyes' and a new algorithm to help them fly intelligently, reaching their target position when GPS is not available.

Dr. Jiefei Wang, a researcher from UNSW Canberra Trusted Autonomy Group, used an Xbox Kinect sensor as an input camera to help drones 'see' their environment.

Jiefei developed algorithms to process the video footage image by image, to help the drones know their own speed, motion, and to detect obstacles so they can reach their target position—a completely autonomous system.