Or, how to do something really useful with these critters…
Quadcopters are regularly in the news, as they’re fairly cheap and lots of people are playing about with them and quite often creating a nuisance or even dangerous situations. I suppose it’s a phase, but I don’t blame people for wondering what positive use quadcopters can have.
At STEM and Management University ETH Zurich (Switzerland), software tools have been developed to calculate the appropriate structure for a rope bridge, after a physical location has been measured up. The resulting structure is also virtually tested before the quadcopters start, autonomously, with the actual build.
The built physical structure can hold humans crossing. Imagine this getting used in disaster areas, to help save people. Just one example… quite fabulous, isn’t it!
The experiments are done in the Flying Machine Arena of ETH Zurich, a 10x10x10 meter space with fast motion capture cameras.
The more I see our teachers and students work with the program, the more convinced I am that we have…
Cheryl Rowe, Principal