Researchers from the University of Zurich in Switzerland recently unveiled new technology that enables drones in flight to autonomously recover stable flight following a system failure.

The new technology will also enable users to launch their drones by tossing them upwards.

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"Our new technology allows safe operation of drones beyond the operator's line of sight, which is crucial for commercial use of drones, such as parcel delivery," said Davide Scaramuzza, co-inventor of the new technology and director of the university's Robotics and Perception Group.

The drones used by the researchers use single cameras to capture images of the environment including acceleration sensors. This enables them to mimic human vision and sense of balance.

The technology, which is integrated with the drone, uses computer vision software to identify the surrounding environment by analyzing all the images.

All images are processed on board the drone, allowing no interaction with the user or operator.

The computer vision software works by building a three-dimensional model of the environment, which is used to identify safe and dangerous landing sites.

"Our system works similarly to a tight-rope walker." said Matthias Faessler, co-inventor and one of the researchers.

"When you balance on a rope, you fixate on some static points in the environment and shift your weight accordingly to restore balance,"

Computer vision is a very important field in the study of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Mimicking the human visual system can allow intelligent robots to identify visual objects and environments.

Andrew Ng, former chief AI of Google and Baidu's current head of its AI group, took part in developing a computer that was able to identify a cat by watching YouTube videos.

Tagsdrone, Computer Vision, AI, technology, Environment, University of Zurich, Switzerland