In order to capture a skydiver’s descent, an autonomous smart robot camera could be the perfect daredevil companion. A team from the University of Nottingham showed off the device, named the Freefall Camera, at the 2017 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) held in Vancouver, Canada.
Enlisting the help of an autonomous camera crew ensures the skydivers themselves aren’t carrying their own film gear. This extra hardware can potentially compromise life-saving parachute packs by snagging on certain components while hurdling at top speeds.
It’s no small feat to design a robot system that can properly function and exhibit position control while withstanding terminal velocity. To do this, the Freefall Camera uses its four vertical ailerons, pair of retractable flaps to change speed via drag, GoPro to film video, and CMUcam5 vision sensor to track falling targets.
Rest assured that the device does have a contingency plan when it’s time to land. Within a certain distance, the device will deploy a parachute and head to preset GPS coordinates. Further improvements, including crash avoidance and infrared beacon tracking, are slated for future iterations before it’s consumer ready.
Watch the device take a wind tunnel practice run in the video below.
