A group of Swiss researchers have created a new video putting their high-tech quadrocopter’s flying efficiency to the test. The three flying robots fly back and forth in recognition with each other, whilst each being attached to a three sided net. The intuitive copters can catch incoming balls by flying in formation to move the net accordingly. Once the ball is in the net, they are then also able to launch it upwards by quickly stretching out the net.

“To toss the ball, the quadrocopters accelerate rapidly outward to stretch the net tight between them and launch the ball up. Notice in the video that the quadrocopters are then pulled forcefully inward by the tension in the elastic net, and must rapidly stabilize in order to avoid a collision. Once recovered, the quadrotors cooperatively position the net below the ball in order to catch it,” Explains Robin Ritz, the top contributor to the project, and Lead Researcher at ETH Zurich’s Flying Machine Arena.

“Because they are coupled to each other by the net, the quadrocopters experience complex forces that push the vehicles to the limits of their dynamic capabilities. To exploit the full potential of the vehicles under these circumstances requires several novel algorithms.”

“Algorithms include an optimally-based real-time trajectory generation algorithm for the catching maneuver, a time varying control strategy to manage the forces on the individual vehicles that are induced by the net and learning algorithms that compensate for model inaccuracies when aiming the ball.”

By the sounds of things, it must’ve taken a lot of time and skill to create a trio of robots that can work closely with one-another to accomplish a task without being a hindrance to eachother copter’s performance. The robots show an impressive trait, but their ability to catch the ball still needs to be improved a long way before it could be compared to the likes of a team of professional Baseball catchers.

However, video footage of the quadrocopters below shows great potential for robotic interventions for day-to-day life, and with smart mechanics, and well-thought out algorithms like those in the quadrocopters, I would imagine it wouldn’t be long before robots like this are catching stuff in mid air or completing more difficult tasks.

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The concept comes by way of Exertion Games Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne. What they’ve done is taken the standard Parrot AR.Drone quadracopter and loaded it with some specialized software. By doing so, the drone will lock in on the user (you) and follow you around as you go for your run around the neighborhood. It’s also designed to help you maintain a certain pace, so if you start to lag behind, it’ll fly on ahead and “motivate” you to keep up. Because you wouldn’t want to lose your $300+ toy.

There is definitely room for improvement, of course. You could equip Joggobot to keep the path lit when you go for a run at night, for example, or they could set it up to have better controls… perhaps with Kinect-esque motion-based waving to get the Joggobot to speed up or slow down. The other snag is the 20-minute battery life, which doesn’t leave you with a very big window for a good jog.

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I saw the AR.Drone 2.0 in action when I attended CES earlier this year, but now it’s out in the wild and a sample of the HD video shot by the quadrocopter has been uploaded to the Internet. The video sample, embedded below and available in 720p, provides an aerial view of San Francisco Peaks and Mt. Elden from Flagstaff, Arizona.

Not surprisingly, the video is filled with wavy undulations as the quad-rotor aircraft makes its way up into the skies. The quality of the video isn’t the best either and the lack of audio really takes away from the experience. Even so, I imagine the AR.Drone 2.0 is a really fun toy to have, especially since all you have to do is double-tap a button in the provided iOS or Android FreeFlight app to make it do a flip.

There are better ways to spend $299, but a sensible desk or a nice toaster oven just don’t sound as fun.

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Developed by the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Lab (GRASP), these nano quadrocopters (or quadrotors, if you prefer) are able to fly in various complex formations, navigating through the environment with complex “autonomous swarm behavior.” The very sound of the swarm in the video below gives me chills.

I’m instantly reminded of Michael Crichton’s Prey. The thing with a swarm is that they have a “collective intelligence” of sorts, so it doesn’t matter if you take out one or two units from the group. They operate as a collective, making them virtually unstoppable. Where’s John Connor when you need him?

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So that AR Drone Quadrocopter we saw at CES just the other week, well, it’s made by a company named Parrot and we’ve managed to get a hold of some exciting footage of it buzzing around the streets.

At an estimated $500 price when it hits the store shevles, it’s not so bad of a deal considering: the quadrocopter is controlled by your iPhone or iPod Touch via WiFi, it has two onboard cameras, one streams vide back to your iPhone, an ultrasonic altimeter, gyro/accelerometer stabilization system, best of all, the “augmented reality” system turns your flying saucer in to a video game by overlaying graphics and objects on your screen with multi-player capabilities.

It wont stop there, Parrot is creating an API for the WiFi interface allowing developers to get freaky with this flying system.

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