Autonomous drones show potential for forest search-and-rescue missions

In a paper being presented at the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics conference (Nov 5-8), MIT researchers describe their autonomous system, which overcomes limitations of using GPS in forest environments.

Each autonomous quadrotor drone is equipped with laser-range finders for position estimation, localisation, and path planning. As the drone flies around, it creates an individual 3D map of the terrain. Algorithms help it recognise unexplored and already-searched spots, and an off-board ground station fuses individual maps from multiple drones into a global 3D map that can be monitored by human rescuers.

In a real-world implementation, though not in the current system, the drones would come equipped with object detection to identify a missing hiker. When located, the drone would tag the hiker's location on the global map. Humans could then use this information to plan a rescue mission.

"Essentially, we're replacing humans with a fleet of drones to make the search part of the search-and-rescue process more efficient," said first author Yulun Tian, a graduate student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.