Tokyo University researchers magnify drone power by connecting multiple UAVs

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are working on ways to boost the task-performing brawn of drones without undermining the accessibility advantages that come with their smaller size, and now say they may have a solution by coupling devices once they’ve reached job sites to combine their power.

The challenge that University of Tokyo experts set themselves was to preserve the mobility drones need to navigate tight spaces in order to reach or operate in certain workspaces, yet still provide them augmented muscle to perform physical tasks once there. Thus far, the common approach to the latter has been to increase motor (and, by extension) battery power, which tends to bloat UAV size, and thus conflict with access limitations.

Read: MIT automated drone trajectory tech posts 100% collision-free trial results

To work around that, the organization’s lab wonks came up with a jigsaw strategy that would permit individual “pieces” to fly…