“Superhuman Speed”: How Autonomous Drones Beat the Best Human Racers

Abstract

It's flying so fast that following it with my camera is hopeless, so I give up and watch in disbelief. The shrieking whine from the four motors of the racing quadrotor Dopplers up and down as the drone twists, turns, and backflips its way through the square plastic gates of the course at a speed that is literally super-human. I'm cowering behind a safety net, inside a hangar at an airfield just outside of Zurich, along with the drone's creators from the Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich.