The Netherlands Draws Inspiration from Birds and Bees to Conduct Drone Swarm Research

The 'Swarm Laboratory' at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands is dedicated to the development of autonomous micro drones, aiming to enable a swarm of 100 drones to perform various tasks such as factory gas leak detection and search and rescue operations. The drone swarm can recharge itself and continue flying without human intervention. The lab's director, De Kroon, stated that the team studies the collective behavior of insects and animals to create cooperation programs for the drones. Despite challenges such as the complexity of predicting swarm behavior and limitations in the sensors and computational power of small drones, the researchers have developed mutual perception capabilities among the drones.