Not Even a Crash Can Keep This Flying Robot Down

http://youtu.be/GgdI0oiPY0s Robots can venture into areas too dangerous for humans, like unstable collapsed buildings and potentially radioactive power plants, but they won’t get very far without the ability to pick themselves up after getting knocked down. At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems designs flying robots capable of self-recovery. For the autonomous flying robot in the video, the key to surviving a crash is a light and flexible carbon fiber cage that protects its rotors and absorbs the energy from the collision. After a fall, carbon fiber legs automatically extend from the cage to push the 'bot back into a standing position, from which it can take off once more. [via PopSci]