autonomous systems
AI-enabled control system helps autonomous drones stay on target in uncertain environments
An autonomous drone carrying water to help extinguish a wildfire in the Sierra Nevada might encounter swirling Santa Ana winds that threaten to push it off course. Rapidly adapting to these unknown disturbances inflight presents an enormous challenge for the drone’s flight control system. To help such a drone stay on target, MIT researchers developed a…
Vision and Precision in the Future of Autonomy
(Source: Nejron Photo/stock.adobe.com; generated with AI) A camouflaged coin stuck to a distant wall or a self-driving vehicle entering a foggy tunnel may seem like unremarkable scenarios to the average person. For engineers, however, these scenarios represent two challenges when building autonomous systems: seeing and knowing where you are when the conditions are working against…