Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a working-class person's M.I.T. Has kicked MIT's @$$ on BattleBots.
How tiny drones inspired by bats could save lives in dark and stormy conditions
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are developing tiny drones inspired by bats for search and rescue missions.
By HOLLY RAMER, Associated Press
October 30, 2025 | 8:32 AM
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — Don’t be fooled by the fog machine, spooky lights and fake bats: the robotics lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute lab isn’t hosting a Halloween party.
Instead, it’s a testing ground for tiny drones that can be deployed in search and rescue missions even in dark, smoky or stormy conditions. ...
... “That type of deployment — autonomous drones — that is effectively nil,” he said.
Williams tackled that problem with a recent project that involved programming drones to choose search trajectories in coordination with human searchers. Among other things, his team used historical data from thousands of missing person cases to create a model predicting how someone would behave if lost in the woods.
“And then we used that model to better localize our drones, to search in locations with higher chances of finding someone,” he said. ...
... By contrast, his drone fits in the palm of his hand, is made mostly from inexpensive hobby-grade materials and can operate in the dark. A small ultrasonic sensor, not unlike those used in automatic faucets in public restrooms, mimics bat behavior, sending out a pulse of high-frequency sound and using the echo to detect obstacles in its path. ...
