Last month’s flight demonstrated two key pieces of this technology: obstacle avoidance and navigation, and determination of safe landing areas. In the video, you can see the terrain map that the helicopter is creating with its optical sensors to make navigation and landing decisions. But the most interesting aspect is the radio chatter between the human pilots onboard and the other mission participants. At several points it is evident that they don’t know exactly what their helicopter is going to do next, but each time it comes up with a satisfactory solution.
