New from Boeing: Flying Bot Swarms You Control With Body Language
Human operators could use gestures to direct clouds of robot drones Robot swarms could someday hover, spin, and attack in response to a simple gesture or graceful pirouette from a human operator. And yes, Boeing has filed a patent on that future vision. "The method may involve defining a plurality of body movements of an operator that correspond to a plurality of operating commands for the unmanned object," Boeing notes in its patent filing. "Body movements of the operator may be sensed to generate the operating commands." Boeing goes further by laying claim to specific body motions for specific commands. A nod of the human operator's head could select one robot out of the flying unmanned swarm. A circular hand motion along a certain plane could order another robot to begin moving from a stationary position. An operator might even select a certain...