A team of engineers and roboticists at the University of Hong Kong have designed, built and tested an aerial robot capable of navigating unknown environments safely at high speeds while avoiding obstacles. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes how they overcame problems encountered by others attempting to build similar robots and how well their quadcopter robot, called SUPER, performed during testing.

Roboticists have been trying for several years to build a flying robot that could perform like birds—moving safely at high speeds while adjusting to unknown conditions as they arise, such as encountering gusts of wind, power lines, tree limbs or other objects appearing suddenly in their path.

Most such flying robots have relied on various types of sensors and cameras that had to process massive amounts of video data, slowing the speeds at which they could operate. In this new effort, the researchers in Hong Kong say they have finally overcome these challenges.