October 14, 2013
Nathan Michael, assistant research professor of robotics, was part of a team at Penn cited by Popular Mechanics as one of “Ten Innovators Who Changed The World in 2013.” The Penn team, led by Vijay Kumar, is developing tiny quadrotors that can autonomously fly in squadrons to map and assess dangerously compromised buildings.
Michael, who joined the Robotics Institute in 2012, told the magazine that this sort of small, unmanned aerial vehicle could be of immense importance for search and rescue in the near future. “In the long term, UAVs may change how we think about the whole cycle of disaster,” Michael said. “Not just responding to the aftermath but preventing losses beforehand by mapping out challenging environments.”