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Design

Just Some Quadrocopters Playing Catch And Throwing A Ball Around

Ah, how cute. Drones can now cooperate with each other when they come to enslave mankind.

OK, you might be thinking “Not another quadrocopter video!” but these things are going to be sticking around for quite some time so get used to seeing them. And look, this time they’re able to play catch and throw a ball around like some kind of cute, but terrifying, pet.

Terrifying because it means they can now cooperate to a level where they can throw a ball through a hoop and catch it with the aid of an elastic net. And while it may all look simple and easy, there are some impressive algorithms at work here, stabilizing the drones as they undergo the complex forces of playing catch while attached to the net.

This all took place at the Flying Machine Arena at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, so you can blame them when you’re being tossed around and bullied by a giant ancestor of these in years to come.

And if you were thinking of getting a dog, why not get yourself a drone instead? We now know they can play catch and they’ll almost certainly be able to chase down the postman.

@stewart23rd