DARPA is one of those black boxes where tax money goes in and insane things like cyborg insects, flying cars, and the Internet come out. Their latest is a flying robot called the V-Bat that can drop off the groceries. Or a kitten. Or anything, really. It’s that good, and it’s fully autonomous.
Here’s the robot mailman in action:
First, it scans the terrain and finds exactly where you want the payload. Then, using a steroscopic visual system, it plans the best path, hovers over, drops it off, and leaves.
If this sounds less than impressive, it’s actually pretty much technologically impossible until now. And of course, it’s got a lot of military uses, mostly in terms of getting stuff to remote locations.
But the implications are huge. Basically this thing can replace everything from take-out drivers to mailmen, and can drop things off with precision. All you really have to do is get people to accept a giant penis-shaped robot floating down the street giving things to people with a giant robot claw.
OK, so it might take a little work.
What A Robot Can Do With Depth Perception [DARPA]