Delft, Netherlands – Tiny autonomous drones could navigate darkness, dust and smoke using artificial whiskers inspired by rats and mice, according to researchers at Delft University of Technology.

Drones weighing less than 100 grams face severe limits on sensing, computing power and energy. Conventional sensors such as cameras, LiDAR and rangefinders can also become unreliable in low-visibility environments.

Dr. Salua Hamaza and her team developed a lightweight tactile sensing system that allows drones to navigate without relying on vision. A pair of artificial whiskers mounted at the front of the drone provides continuous feedback when they touch nearby surfaces.

Each whisker has three miniature pressure sensors at its base. As a whisker bends after contact, pressure changes allow the drone to estimate the depth and location of the surface in three dimensions.

The researchers developed a processing system to remove noise caused by the drone’s propellers and convert whisker signals into millimetre-precision depth estimates. The entire tactile perception pipeline uses just 34 kilobytes of memory.

“We wanted to show that touch does not have to come at the cost of size or computational power. Our entire tactile perception pipeline runs onboard using just 34 kilobytes of memory, allowing a tiny drone to sense and respond to its environment in real time,” said Chaoxiang Ye of Delft University of Technology.

During experiments, the drone followed rigid and soft surfaces in complete darkness, explored enclosed spaces and built tactile maps of unfamiliar environments. It could also find an exit without cameras or other vision-based sensors.

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