MIT drone uses NanoMap tech for high speed navigation of cluttered environments

NanoMap technology - which, during trials, enabled drones to fly at up 20 miles per hour through dense environments - potentially opens up a range of applications for small drones such as parcel delivery and search and rescue.

Existing approaches to drone navigation of this sort typically rely on intricate maps that aim to tell drones exactly where they are relative to obstacles. This isn't particularly practical in real-world settings with unpredictable objects as if their estimated location is off by even just a small margin, they can easily crash.

By contrast, NanoMap considers the drone's position in the world over time to be uncertain, and actually models and accounts for that uncertainty. "Overly confident maps won't help you if you want drones that can operate at higher speeds in human environments," said graduate student Pete Florence. "An approach that is better aware of uncertainty gets us a much higher level of reliability in terms of being able to fly in close quarters and avoid obstacles."