Drones that could repair buildings of the future - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.

The drones will be able to ‘see’ using computer vision technology, building 3D maps of their surroundings. Once they spot where a repair is required, they could even summon other drones to fix it. The researchers say future soft, flexible drones will be able to reach areas dangerous for humans such as tunnels, mines or pipelines.

The project is part of a partnership between Imperial College London and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Empa. Empa’s Next Evolution in Sustainable Building Technologies Aerial Robotics Hub and Imperial’s Aerial Robotics Lab are being used as hubs for the drones’ development.

Director of the lab and head of the Empa’s Materials and Technology Centre of Robotics, Dr. Mirko Kovac, told Reuters he envisages the drones would be like a building’s immune system, monitoring and repairing it.“We can really just take inspiration of…how spiders approach manufacturing tasks and this is really what we translated,” he said.

A demonstration at the Aerial Robotics Lab in London showed one of the development drones using a magnet to latch onto a metal walkway before descending to hang from a wire.Dr. Kovac sees his project as cost-saving in the long run, reducing the need for helicopters for building assessments and scaffolding for repairs.

The materials scientists and robotics experts envision drones being buildings’ permanent residents as a key component of future cities.

....okay so what are humans gonna do? Kill each other for water?

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