Autonomous drones can herd birds away from airports
Drones aren't usually allowed to go near airports unless they serve a purpose, like herding flocks of birds away from the airspace where they could put planes full of people in jeopardy. Manually controlled drones can be unreliable, though: If the operator gets too aggressive and spooks the birds, the flock could scatter and become even more unmanageable. That's why a team of researchers from Caltech have developed an algorithm that teaches unmanned aerial vehicles how to autonomously (and effectively) herd birds away from airport airspace. The engineers said they were inspired by the 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 incident that came to be known as "Miracle on the Hudson." After taking off from LaGuardia, the plane struck a flock of geese and lost all engine power. The only reason it didn't crash was because the pilots were highly skilled and were ...
