Ultralightweight sonar plus AI lets tiny drones navigate like bats

Source: Robohub·2026-04-29 23:05Publish time unverified

This small drone is using sonar, similar to bats’ echolocation, to navigate through a grove of trees. Image credit: Nitin Sanket. By Nitin Sanket, Worcester Polytechnic Institute To help small aerial robots navigate in the dark and other low-visibility environments, my colleagues and I developed an ultrasound-based perception system inspired by bat echolocation.