Getting Small UAVs To Imitate Human Pilots Flying Through Dense Forests

New submitter diabolicalrobot writes "The Robotics Institute at CMU has been developing systems to learn from humans. Using a Machine Learning class of techniques called Imitation Learning our group has developed AI software for a small commercially available off-the-shelf ARdrone to autonomously fly through the dense trees for over 3.4 km in experimental runs. We are also developing methods to do longer range planning with such purely vision-guided UAVs. Such technology has a lot of potential impact for surveillance, search and rescue and allowing UAVs to safely share airspace with manned airspace."

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[durrr]

It could, however I don't see what part of screaming your final prayers is so hard to teach to a UAV?

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[Antipater]

Well, before the UAV can pray, they have to give it a soul. I hear that's pretty difficult.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Oblig
http://xkcd.com/413/

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[TheLink]

It should be easy to give it a soul- if humans have souls, many animals are likely to have souls too. The difficult bits are ethical and cost.

Coming Soon...

[JonahsDad]

To the second moon of Endor.

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[diabolicalrobot]

We are on it too http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oO_Ohp1pHBw [youtube.com]

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[JonahsDad]

Nice to know you guys have a proper sense of humor. Of course, given that your video predates my comment by a couple of months, I should probably have been modded redundant. I'll give myself a break since the link wasn't directly accessible from any of the links in TFS.

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[SeaFox]

Sadly the chase scene was exactly what popped to mind when I read the title as well.

Thought

[Sparticus789]

Perhaps I should port the source code into Battlefield 3 so I don't crash the helicopter all the time.

Re:Don't kid yourself

[Jeng]

Violence is just the low hanging fruit of applying robotic vision, well low hanging fruit that pays very well.

There are many applications for this, whether it helps a computer to guide a blind person though a crowded lobby, allowing a driverless car to be safer and more efficient, or even warning you that your car is about to be hit by another car.

Re:Don't kid yourself

[Baloroth]

I never went into robotic vision because nearly all of the immediate applications are military.

Just like radar, and jet engines and rockets and spaceflight and GPS and encryption and antibiotics, yet all those things turned out to be slightly beneficial (or more than slightly, in the case of... all of them) to humanity as a whole.

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[stewart4t2]

*tinfoil*

Robotic vision is one of that last main things that is keeping us from real, functioning, war fighting robots. Do we want the military to have this first?

Obviously, true intelligence will be the final step in our Terminator style demise.

*/tinfoil*

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[kelemvor4]

> Such technology has a lot of potential impact for surveillance, search and rescue...

and killing people.

I never went into robotic vision because nearly all of the immediate applications are military.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU [youtube.com]

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[Githaron]

all of the immediate applications are military.

That is only true because that is where most of the funding it probably coming from. Computer vision has huge potential outside the military. Computer vision is not the first massively useful technology that came out efficiently killing people and it will not be the last. Hell, most of the first seeds of the computer, electronics, and internet industries were planted because of the military.

1984 is old hat...

[harvey the nerd]

Armed with a small LED or lasers to paint targets for small missiles, it could allow principals, police and govt agency personnel to eliminate offenders in whatever act.

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[Jeng]

Yes, because once they escape they then have to evade arrest for the rest of their lives. Not an easy task.

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[PPH]

They're still working on the "guard in the tower with the scoped .30-06" problem.

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[Githaron]

Armed with a small LED or lasers to paint targets for small missiles, it could allow principals, police and govt agency personnel to eliminate offenders in whatever act.

Or they could just make cats very happy before they die in a fiery explosion.

Flight Videos (direct link)

[diabolicalrobot]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wfZB0NfMHJM [youtube.com] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hNsP6-K3Hn4 [youtube.com]

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[Russ1642]

I've seen the onboard videos of goshawks flying through the woods. If humans could do that they'd have to take an industrial strength anti-emetic beforehand.

Re:They don't need to imitate humans

[camperdave]

Link [youtube.com], or Star Wars Version [youtube.com].

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[icoderaven]

There's yet another Star Wars version [youtube.com]

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[icoderaven]

They need to imitate birds. Duh.

Probably why the project is called BIRD.

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[voidphoenix]

Birds probably really really suck at piloting drones.

Gives a whole new meaning...

[srussia]

to the most common aviation accident:
CFIT (human) = Controlled Flight Into Terrain
CFIT (Machine) = Controlled Flight Into Tree

BOOM!

[Massacrifice]

a lot of potential impact for surveillance

Nothing that a shotgun can't fix. Yet.

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[kelemvor4]

a lot of potential impact for surveillance

Nothing that a shotgun can't fix. Yet.

Yeah, but going to jail because you shot down a government owned drone probably isn't going to be worth it. It's not like they won't be able to see who shot it down, and exactly where/when. Heck, it might even shoot back! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU [youtube.com]

I want one for home use

[ThorGod]

I want a drone that flies around my houses and fixes all the dren that I don't want to fix.

You know, broken light bulbs, empties the gutters, etc.

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[kelemvor4]

I want a drone that flies around my houses and fixes all the dren that I don't want to fix.

You know, broken light bulbs, empties the gutters, etc.

You can already program the ar.drone to fly a preset flight path... just attach a little shovel and have it fly around scooping the gutter daily, all you'd need to work out is how to properly apply the duct tape, and setup some type of charging station it could land on by its-self.

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[ThorGod]

The point is something that is generally capable of whatever task.

Autonomous gutter clutter gutter?

[bdwoolman]

Why can't we all just get a Looj? [irobot.com]

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[Anonymous Coward]

Except since it learns by imitation it would probably just sit in front of your PC all day.

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[wonkey_monkey]

Damn things won't come with batteries though.

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[Githaron]

Because birds are not big enough to not carry explosive payloads or turrents.

oblig.

[viperidaenz]

I for one welcome our multi-rotored overlords.

How it does with horizontal features?

[scdeimos]

In the real world a UAV will need to deal with horizontal features like power lines, fences and fence rails - all things that trip up human aviators far too often. The first video in TFA showed it using the increasing horizontal (left-right) velocity of picture elements to correlate with something vertical like a tree approaching the monocular camera, but ended abruptly as the AR.Drone was approaching a wooden fence. I would have really liked to have seen it deal with that fence as well, say by momentarily

Human pilots do what?

[Tablizer]

Who flies through dense forests? If you want to imitate a typical human pilot caught in a forest, make the drone say:

"Aaaah, we're gonna diieee!"