Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief of the scientific magazine Epsiloon today evokes the fascinating subject of these drones that we see everywhere today. We know that they are used a lot in wars, and for almost three months in the conflict in Ukraine, for example. But here, we are crossing a technological milestone.
franceinfo: Chinese researchers have just made an impressive demonstration: 10 drones zigzagging, in a swarm, in a forest.
Mathilde Fontez: Yes. Their videos are really impressive. I invite you to watch them, you will find the link on the franceinfo site: the 10 small flying cars manage to avoid all obstacles. And they really fly together: they separate, they approach exactly like a flock of birds.
It looks like a sci-fi movie! Moreover, the researchers refer directly to Prometheus and to blade runner in their post, saying that’s what inspired them!
We had already seen groups of drones like that…
There were a lot of demonstrations. We remember the 1800 drones that were deployed above the Tokyo stadium, for the opening show of the Olympic Games, in 2021. For a long time, there have even been attractions with groups of drones in Disney land, or at Puy du Fou. But in fact, they weren’t really swarms: in these demonstrations, all the drones were controlled by a central system, and their trajectories were programmed in advance.
While the drones of Chinese researchers are completely autonomous. They spot obstacles with cameras. They calculate the best trajectory themselves. And they communicate with each other to tune their movements. That’s technological prowess.
We imagine that it took years of research…
Specialists in robotics, and especially in algorithms, have been working on this subject since the early 90s. So yes, it’s been a long time. In fact, as soon as the electronic components were able to perform such functions, we wanted to make swarm drones. The advantages we see there, compared to robots alone, is resilience: if a drone breaks down, for example, the others take over. The formation rearranges itself automatically.
It can be a key element for rescue missions (finding injured people in a rockslide), for exploration missions, and of course there are military applications. One of the videos of the Chinese researchers is a bit chilling on this subject: the drone swarm is able to follow a target – a man in the video. And this, even when it is momentarily hidden by obstacles…