Hat tip to David Cenciotti and his Aviationist blog for posting a video of the “Feedback Control and the Coming Machine Revolution” presentation by Professor Raffaello D’Andrea from ETH Zurich about the future capabilities of machines. The lecture is around 23 minutes long with the flying robots or drones making their debut at around the 9 minute mark when Raffaello explains how they work.
However, the most interesting point in the lecture comes at around the 19 minute mark when the three drones throw a ball in the air and move to intercept it. This shows how drones can be programmed to work together to accomplish tasks beyond their individual capabilities:
