Holy Moly! We need one of these quick! If you need someone to do some quick reconnaissance, then you’ll rather have some-thing, rather than some-one, as this new toy from DARPA can do it really fast for you.  If you ask how fast, that’s 45mph and that speed can be maintained indoors without much human input.

DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy program (FLA) produced a small quadcopter drone that can fly really fast and autonomously with the goal of the program is to develop and test algorithms “that could enable a new class of algorithms for minimalistic high-speed navigation in cluttered environments. With such a capability to handle low-level tasks on its own, it frees up the drone operator to focus on higher level coordination of various manned and unmanned drones that can collaborate to achieve an objective as a single system.

Loaded with a bunch of sensors, the FLA drone can navigate on its own around obstacles whilst flying at high speeds.

The FLA drone uses a commercial DJI Flamewheel 450 airframe, E600 motors with 12" propellers, and 3DR Pixhawk autopilot—is capable of achieving a flight speed of 20 meters per second. At the same time, this small drone can carry high-definition onboard cameras and other sensors, such as LIDAR, sonar and inertial measurement units.

“We’re excited that we were able to validate the airspeed goal during this first-flight data collection,” said Mark Micire, DARPA program manager adding that, “The fact that some teams also demonstrated basic autonomous flight ahead of schedule was an added bonus. The challenge for the teams now is to advance the algorithms and onboard computational efficiency to extend the UAVs’ perception range and compensate for the vehicles’ mass to make extremely tight turns and abrupt maneuvers at high speeds.”

The DARPA FLA drone as is, already has valuable uses, especially for first responders and squad-level infantry. For first responders, they can use the drone in disaster-stricken areas, whether indoors and outdoors; and its speed and ability to skirt obstacles and its onboard cameras can mean a life and death for survivors as it can reach into areas that may initially be unsafe for responders. For infantry squads, using this small speed demon to do some quick recon in built-up areas can help them plan their approach with lesser risks. If this can be done by civilian drone hobbyists, having a quick and agile drone can be used for airsoft games.