Self-righting autonomous swarming robots

As if autonomous swarming robots weren’t cool enough. SensorFly, a prototype from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, shows just how robust the current crop really is. Knock down one of these sensor-packed hovering whirlygigs and it reorients itself to take flight again in a matter of seconds. [via BotJunkie]

The SensorFly is a novel low-cost controlled-mobile aerial sensor networking platform. A flock of these 29g autonomous helicopter nodes with communication, ranging and collaborative path determination capabilities, can be extremely useful in sensing survivors after disasters or adversaries in urban combat scenarios.