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SHORT NEWS

Autonomous drone beats world champion in drone races

#AI #ai researcher #drone #race

A drone controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) has defeated the world champion in drone races. According to the developers from the University of Zurich, this is a milestone for robotics.

When a computer defeated the then world chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1996, that was already impressive, the researchers announced. Even more so when in 2016 a computer beat the world champion Lee Sedol in the much more complex game of Go. However, these successes all took place in a virtual environment. In a board game, everything is known exactly in advance, they said. "Our autonomous drone has managed to beat humans in the real world," said researcher Leonard Bauersfeld.

Sophisticated technology

The drone competed against several drone pilots: Drone Racing League Champion 2019 Alex Vanover, MultiGP Drone Racing Champion 2019 Thomas Bitmatta and three-time Swiss champion Marvin Schaepper.

The human pilots were able to practice on the track for a week. Afterwards, they competed in head-to-head races against "Swift". The system won several races against each of the human champions (15 of the 25 races in total) and also achieved the fastest recorded race time on the track, half a second ahead of the best time recorded by a human pilot.

Rescue of buried victims

However, the races only served as a test environment for the drone. In the future, such AI-controlled drones could search for missing persons in collapsed buildings, for instance.

According to Bauersfeld, very similar skills are needed for these applications as for the drone races. In these, pilots steer through an obstacle course. The drones have to fly through various gates, for example. This ability to fly precisely through gates could help to fly through narrow passages in collapsed buildings, Bauersfeld said. Speed is also of great importance for such real-world applications because drones only have a very limited battery capacity. So the faster it flies, the further it gets.

Written by: sda

Photos: Leonard Bauersfeld, UZH

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March 3rd, 2024
A hospital room in Zurich children's hospital

Researchers want to detect blood poisoning earlier using AI

With the help of artificial intelligence (AI) a research team at the University Children's Hospital in Zurich has defined new criteria for the diagnosis of blood poisoning. This could improve the early detection of this dangerous disease.
March 10th, 2024
plastic waste in a garbage bin

Microplastics could promote cancer

According to a new study, tiny plastic particles can be passed on during cell division. This could potentially favour the spread of cancer.
April 15th, 2024
a baby in a newborn ward

AI diagnoses heart defects in babies

An artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Zurich researchers recognises a specific heart defect in newborns. According to the researchers, it has the potential to reduce the number of missed diagnoses of pulmonary hypertension.
April 29th, 2024
the new robot can mimic the softness of materials

Robot reproduces the softness of materials

A new robot can precisely mimic the softness of various materials. In future, medical students could use it to practise detecting malignant tumours or researchers could feel the softness of an object in space.
May 6th, 2024
PEBE

Are CO2 absorbers the saviors of the climate crisis?

In the fight against climate change, gigatons of carbon dioxide will have to be removed from the atmosphere over the course of the century - using so-called carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are giving people new hope.
June 12th, 2024
pedestrians at a zebra crossing

New car camera detects pedestrians 100 times faster

A new type of car camera recognises obstacles 100 times faster than previous driver assistance systems. In future, this technology should help to brake cars in good time if a pedestrian suddenly runs into the road.
August 5th, 2024
Pedestrians walk on planks across a flooded square in Switzerland.

Climate change causes global economy to shrink significantly

According to a new forecast, the global economy is at risk of shrinking by around a fifth by the middle of the century due to climate change.
August 19th, 2024