Innovation of the week: Bridge-building drones

published 3 October 2015

The next time a swollen river wipes out a bridge, drones might be sent in to do the rebuilding, said Michelle Starr at CNET. Researchers at the Zurich-based Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have successfully programmed a squad of small quadcopter drones to autonomously build a rope bridge "capable of bearing the weight of a human." In a laboratory test, a team of three quadcopters was able to scan the 24-foot distance between two sets of scaffolding and figure out how to build the bridge on their own, without human intervention, using ropes that they looped, braided, and knotted together. The drones also independently selected the best anchor points for the rope for maximum load bearing and stability. When it comes to disaster response, "there's no denying that the small, lightweight aerial vehicles have potential."