The University of Pennsylvania’s clever robots demonstrated their own little rendition of the James Bond theme at a recent TED talk. In a room fitted with infrared lights and cameras, the seven quads were able to perform the song due to the reflectors and a camera system plotting the position of each, and then relaying the required information to the robots. From there, each robot can be assigned waypoints, which is how each bot carries out a task like strumming a guitar. This essentially means that the quadrotors are autonomous, and humans are not in control of them.
As you can see, four quadrotors played the keyboard, while two others played drums and one played a special guitar made from recycled objects. Each bopped along to the tune, and in some ways looked quite peaceful and cute, quite like the Batteries Not Included machines, rather than daunting when practicing their swarms.
Check out the video below to see the quadrotors in action. You’ll enjoy watching them perform so perfectly, but another part of you may wonder how long it will be until they begin to overthrow the human race.
[University of Pennsylvania via Engadget]
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