Drones trained to tackle obstacle course at high speeds using virtual racetrack
The algorithm was developed using simulations of a drone flying through a virtual obstacle course alongside data taken from experiments of a real drone flying through the same course in a physical space. The researchers found that a drone trained with their algorithm flew through a simple obstacle course up to 20 per cent faster than a drone trained on conventional planning algorithms. The new algorithm did not always keep a drone ahead of its competitor throughout the course, as it sometimes opted to conserve energy by slowing down only to speed up and ultimately overtake its rival by the end. “At high speeds, there are intricate aerodynamics that are hard to simulate, so we use experiments in the real world to fill in those black holes to find, for instance, that it might be better…
