UT UAV team designs drones for research, rescue

Press

Ten years ago, hummingbirds inspired engineering professor Maruthi Akella and his coworkers to create drones that can move quickly and sense their surroundings. Now NASA, the City of Austin and the U.S. Air Force are scrambling for his designs.

Akella leads the UT Austin coordinated UAV teams. UAV stands for unmanned autonomous vehicles, commonly known as drones, which are motorized vehicles that can move without a human operator.

In his initial research at UT, Akella studied hummingbirds. He was more interested in the hummingbird’s sensory abilities than their speed. Not only can the birds go fast – they swerve and turn precisely, without running into obstacles. The UAV team works to create drones that could move almost as quickly, with spatial awareness that doesn’t require a GPS or human operator.

“Hummingbirds are at the limit of what nature can do,” Akella said. “They’re super-birds.”