An autonomous flying robot for testing bio-inspired navigation strategies

In this paper, we present our approach to studying bio-inspired navigation strategies on an autonomous flying robot. The robot is a quadrocopter that is based on technology from Mikrokopter and extended with several sensor systems, most of them inspired by sensors that animals use for navigating in their natural environment. Using a light-weight embedded computer from gumstix onboard the copter, the system can be fully autonomous. We present prototypical experiments on visual homing, self-stabilisation using optic flow, and altitude control using evolutionary strategies.