In the beginning, these four-rotor machines learned to flip through
360-degrees, "dance" to music and even play the piano. Today,
increasingly complex flight maneuvers are being attempted as
quadrocopters work together to build a six-meter tall model tower and
juggle balls and poles. It is an extraordinary and slightly befuddling
sight to behold.
Last month, ETH Zurich released video footage of
their latest stunt showing a quadrocopter balancing a pole before
tossing it to another quadrocopter which successfully catches and
controls the pole.
Quadrocopters are
controlled by varying the relative speed of each rotor blades, or pairs
of rotor blades to generate thrust and control pitch, roll and yaw.
They've been around for a long time, says D'Andrea, but what's making
them so popular now as a creative tool is the shrinking size and cost of
technology.
"In order to fly these
things you need gyros. Only recently have they become small, accurate,
and cheap enough to put on these vehicles," he explains.
The tiny motors driving each rotor are also extremely powerful and cheap now, he says, as are the batteries.
Last month, ETH Zurich released video footage of
their latest stunt showing a quadrocopter balancing a pole before
tossing it to another quadrocopter which successfully catches and
controls the pole.
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